Joy Spring / Laura – Clifford Brown

by | Jun 29, 2018 | Orchestral, Quartet/Quintet

Clifford Brown, also known as “Brownie”, is often regarded as the finest jazz trumpet player to ever perform on the American music scene. Certainly he is the benchmark against whom all others are judged.  Brownie died tragically at the age of 25 in a car accident on a rainy night in Pennsylvania, leaving behind a recorded legacy that spans a mere four years. He profoundly influenced later jazz trumpeters including Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and the great Lee Morgan.  He was also a composer of note, with two of his compositions, “Joy Spring” and “Daahoud” becoming jazz standards.

Joy Spring

by Clifford Brown | Jazz Immortal

Laura

by Clifford Brown | Brown With Strings

Body and Soul – Oscar Peterson

by | Jun 15, 2018 | Orchestral

Oscar Peterson performs “Body and Soul” with John Williams and The Boston Pops Orchestra.  His ability to play ‘more notes per measure’ than nearly anyone else was one of the defining characteristics of his destinctive style.

Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra

by | Jun 8, 2018 | Orchestral, Vocal

As jazz crosses over and influences other musical genres, so artists from those other genres sometimes dip their toes into the cool waters of jazz.  For all of her ‘pop’ success, it turns out that  Linda Ronstadt, has a marvelous voice for the standards.  What’s New?  Listen and find out!

Reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters era, Linda is joined by vocalists Liza Edwards, Elizabeth Lamers, Rita Valente and pianist Red Young for their rendition of the old Glenn Miller classic, I’ve Got A Gal In Kalamazoo.

Linda turns away from her top 40 stylings in favor of the ever popular Lover Man (Where Can You Be).  When Nelson Riddle is behind you, the result is as good as guaranteed to be terrific!

Parker’s Mood – James Moody

by | May 11, 2018 | Orchestral, Solo/Duo

James Moody was a jazz saxophonist and flutist from Newark, New Jersey, celebrated for his virtuosity, his versatility and his onstage ebullience. This is a gentle solo with strings, from Eastwood After Hours, recorded at Carnegie Hall in NYC on October 17, 1996.

Between Two Worlds – Andre Previn

by | Apr 13, 2018 | Orchestral, Trio

Andre Previn is a pianist, composer, conductor and arranger masterfully standing astride two musical genres … both classical music and jazz. Many fans don’t realize that he had one foot in jazz before his other became firmly planted as a classical musician. Here we sample a touch of his conducting, arranging and piano artistry with “Rhapsody In Blue” before stepping back a few years into a swinging performance of Lerner and Loewe’s “Get Me To The Church On Time.”

Satin Doll / Windsong – Mundell Lowe

by | Jan 5, 2018 | Orchestral, Solo/Duo

Mundell Lowe and Louis Stewart perform Satin Doll together with a string quartet.  It’s a unique treatment of the Ellington / Strayhorn classic, with the tender touch of one of jazz’s guitar icons.

Wind Song is a rhythmic, medium-up tempo tune featuring Mundell Lowe and Louis Stewart on guitars, Jim Doherty piano, Dave Gausden bass, Peter Ainscough on drums, augmented by a classical string quartet just to keep things interesting.

Bluesette – Toots Thielemans

by | Sep 29, 2017 | Orchestral, Video

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian-American jazz musician. He was known for his harmonica playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills, and composing.  Possibly his most important contribution was in championing the ‘humble’ harmonica and making it into a legitimate voice in jazz.  His own composition, “Bluesette”, which Toots typically performs on harmonica or while playing the guitar and whistling in unison, has now become a jazz standard.  He said, “If there’s a piece of music that describes me, it’s that song.”  This rendition was recorded in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2009.

Skylark – Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle

by | Jul 14, 2017 | Video, Vocal

In Jazzcast #003 I pointed out the symbiotic relationship between jazz and other forms of music.  On Lush Life, the second in a trilogy of 1980s jazz albums with Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle, Linda temporarily abandons her pop/rock stardom in favor of more traditional fare.  Her excellence in any genre becomes immediately apparent from the first few bars, with the album going Triple Platinum registering sales of over 3 million copies in the United States alone.

Autumn Leaves / Pete Kelly’s Blues – Beegie Adair

by | May 16, 2017 | Trio, Video

The Beegie Adair Trio provides a gentle swinging version of the jazz classic “Autumn Leaves,” written by Joseph Kosma (English lyric by Johnny Mercer), live at the Nashville Jazz Workshop in Nashville, Tennessee.  Listen for the way bassist Roger Spencer throws a few bars of “Suicide Is Painless” from M*A*S*H* into his solo!

Beegie is a huge but lesser known talent who never fully received the recognition she deserves.  She has been playing piano since the age of five … originally from Kentucky, she now lives in Nashville. Her rendition of “Pete Kelly’s Blues” (one of my favorites) is the best I’ve heard outside of the movie soundtrack.