Edward Kennedy Ellington Part 2

by | Sep 13, 2024 | Audio, Big Band

On his first trip to Africa, Duke Ellington wrote a piece of African music for the First International Festival of Art in Senegal, entitled La Plus Belle Africaine. The video (above) was later recorded at the Ellington Orchestra’s Norwegian concert in 1969. My three part interview with Mercer Ellington (below) took place a few years ago … back in my radio days.

As son of one of the most important and prolific composers of the 20th Century, not to mention his prowess as an arranger, musician and bandleader, it now fell to Mercer to continue and enhance Duke’s legacy. While their relationship was sometimes contentious, Mercer’s love and respect are evident, even as he struggled to emerge from a giant shadow and establish his own identity. I was privileged to sit down for an extended interview with Mercer Ellington in his Manhattan apartment, with a big pot of coffee and a New York size platter of Danish pastries.  For two hours I received an intimate look at the father through the eyes of his son … revealing many of The Duke’s opinions, philosophies, and foibles. I hope you’ll find my visit with Mercer as fascinating and fun as I did.

Music Was Their Mistress Pt. 1

by Fred Masey | JS #019

Music Was Their Mistress Pt. 2

by Fred Masey | JS #20

Music Was Their Mistress Pt. 3

by Fred Masey | JS #21

Edward Kennedy Ellington Part 1

by | Sep 6, 2024 | Big Band

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was one of the most important creative forces in the music of the twentieth century. His influence on classical music, popular music and, of course, jazz can’t be overstated. His childhood friends noticed that his casual, offhand manner and dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman, so they began calling him “Duke.” Though Ellington took piano lessons as a child, he also loved playing outdoors. In his memoir, Ellington recounts playing baseball with his friends in Washington D.C., where he was sometimes visited by President Theodore Roosevelt on horseback!

On November 3rd 1969, Duke Ellington and his orchestra held a concert in Bergen Norway. Below are just three excerpts from that concert, which featured a band that was nearly a who’s who of jazz legends: Cootie Williams, Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Harold “Money” Johnson (t); Lawrence Brown (tb); Chuck Connors (btb); Russell Procope (cl,as); Norris Turney (fl,cl,as,ts); Johnny Hodges (as); Harold Ashby (ts,cl); Paul Gonsalves (ts); Harry Carney (cl,bcl,as,bar); Duke Ellington (p); Wild Bill Davis (o); Victor Gaskin (b); Rufus Jones (d). The first tune is the Ellington/Strayhorn classic, Take the A-Train, with a trumpet solo by Cootie Williams.

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, another Ellington composition which became a standard, features a sax solo by the great Johnny Hodges.

Rufus Jones was new with Ellington at the time, having earlier been the drumming force driving the Basie band. This brief solo, called Coming Off the Veldt, shows why he was also known as Speedy Jones!

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.

Swift Jazz

by | Jul 21, 2024 | Big Band, Orchestral, Vocal

Veronica Swift (no relation to the popular diva) is an amazing 23-year-old jazz and bebop chanteuse, who has already appeared with some of the biggest names in the idiom.  From a family of musicians, she cut her first album, Veronica’s House of Jazz, at the age of 9 and her second at 13! She has a most amazing voice and exciting style … as evidenced by the topmost video with Chris Botti and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, There Will Never Be Another You.  Bottom left, she appears with the Steven Feifke Big Band, rehearsing an unusual treatment of On The Street Where You Live, while bottom right Veronica stretches out with the Feifke band on the time honored standard, Until the Real Thing Comes Along.

Shades of Mahogany

by | Jul 14, 2024 | Trio, Vocal

Since I Fell For You

by Kevin Mahogany | Double Rainbow

Kevin Mahogany became prominent in the 1990s and became particularly known for his scat singing. His singing style has sometimes been compared with that of Billy Eckstine, and Joe Williams, with many of his more mellow tones containing a touch of Johnny Hartman. Since I Fell For You (above) is from Kevin’s first album Double Rainbow in 1993, where his vocals were paired with the piano of Kenny Barron, sax of Ralph Moore, drums of Lewis Nash and bass from Ray Drummond.

[On] Green Dolphin Street features Kevin Mahogany with the vocal chores, Larry Fuller playing piano, Ray Brown on bass, and George Fludas on drums.

Like Green Dolphin Street, My Foolish Heart was recorded with The Ray Brown Trio at Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen 2001 in Germany.

One If By Sax, Two If By Flute

by | Jul 7, 2024 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

More than a jazz saxophone and flute player, James Moody was something of a vocalist and composer as well. While playing predominantly in the bebop and hard bop styles, Moody took up the alto sax at the age of 16, eventually adding the flute and tenor to his tool bag, for its deeper resonance. He played with Dizzy Gillespie in 1964, where his colleagues in the Gillespie group––pianist Kenny Barron and guitarist Les Spann––would become important musical collaborators in the coming decades.

Mmm Hmm (top video) is a Moody original, with James playing flute, Christopher White on bass, Kenny Barron at the piano, and Rudy Collins on drums. It was recorded on the French Riviera in 1965.  Parker’s Mood (lower video) is from “Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall,” a 1996 live performance recorded for both record and video. Moody plays the sax on this one and the tune, of course, references ‘Bird’. Along with James Moody are Barry Harris on piano, Christian McBride on Bass, Kenny Washington playing drums, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, plus strings under Lennie Niehaus..

Gettin’ Dizzy

by | Jun 30, 2024 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

John Birks Gillespie got the name “Dizzy” because of his offhand manner and outlandish antics. He got the unusual-looking bent-bell trumpet in 1953, when someone accidentally fell on his trumpet stand backstage. Gillespie liked the sound of the altered instrument so much that his trumpets were specially made in that configuration from then on. More than a jazz trumpet virtuoso, bandleader, composer, educator and singer, he was a civil rights advocate who participated in marches and protests … and even ran for president as a write-in candidate in 1964!

No More Blues (top) was taken from a 1966 BBC television show, and features Dizzy on trumpet, James Moody on alto, Kenny Barron at the piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins playing drums. In the (middle) we have Dizzy with the United Nations Orchestra playing Tin Tin Deo in 1989 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Also included in the mix are such notables as trombonist Slide Hampton, saxophonists James Moody & Paquito D’Rivera, trumpet player Arturo Sandoval, and guitarist Ed Cherry. Finally (bottom) is a tune called Brother K. It was named by Gillespie in1968 as a response to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy that year.

The Old and The New – Lionel Hampton

by | May 25, 2024 | Big Band, Orchestral

Lionel Leo Hampton was an iconic jazz musician and bandleader, known for the rhythmic vitality of his playing and his showmanship as a performer. Best known for his work on the vibraphone, Hampton was also a skilled drummer (his original instrument), pianist, and singer.  During a recording session in 1930, while accompanying Louis Armstrong, Satchmo asked Lionel to play a vibraphone that had been fortuitously left in the studio. The results were “Memories of You” and “Shine,” the first jazz recordings to feature improvised vibraphone solos. From that point on, the vibes became Hampton’s main instrument.  Above, you’ll hear an excitingly different treatment of In The Mood, –– like Glenn Miller never played it –– featuring the St. Petersburg State Orchestra and Lionel Hampton, still at his finest in 1994.

Midnight Sun was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947; it is now considered a jazz standard. This performance was around 1948.

This Kennedy Center performance of Air Mail Special is from a 1982 tribute to Benny Goodman.  You’ll probably recognize several well-known dignitaries in the audience.

The Hot Sardines

by | Feb 23, 2024 | Septet/Octet, Vocal

The Hot Sardines is not a typical name for a serious jazz group so, even though they’ve been around since 2007, I’ve overlooked them until recently when a friend strongly suggested I check them out. My mistake. A bit glitzy, and more than a little offbeat, their main musical mission is to make old sounds new again … and whether recording on a moving New York City subway or adding a tap dancer to their rhythm section, they’re succeeding.

There have been several permutations of The Sardines, with band members too numerous to mention here, but their music remains timeless and their performances always a feast for your soul as well as your senses.  Take the topmost video rendition of Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen –– the group’s official video –– or the bottom-most video of After You’ve Gone as examples: refreshing and energetic in “let your hair down” settings, bound to bring together people with a common love for just plain good music!

With a hint of nostalgia and a touch of New Orleans jazz in their sound, The Hot Sardines add their own flavor to Duke Ellington’s 1936, Caravan … recorded at WFUV (Fordham Univ).

The sound is infectious, the tune is After You’ve Gone, recorded at The Shanghai Mermaid in Brooklyn, New York. It features Elizabeth Bougerol with vocals and Evan Palazzo on piano.

The Irresistible Peggy Lee – Pt. 2

by | Feb 16, 2024 | Big Band, Vocal

(Upper left) is an early Peggy Lee, in 1943 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra offering a classic rendition of Why Don’t You Do Right? She joined the Goodman band in August 1941 and made her first recording, singing “Elmer’s Tune.”  Peggy stayed with Benny for two years, having replaced Helen Forrest … she left in ’43 to become a housewife and mother, but fate and her talent told her the best was yet to come. (Upper right) finds Peggy Lee on the Frank Sinatra Show in 1957, singing a duet with Frank … Nice Work If You Can Get It. See if you notice a little ‘spark’ between them, just a touch beyond mere performance.

(Below) Peggy’s eventual trademark –– the original 1958 version of –– Fever.  I took the liberty of adding some video from several of her incarnations as a legendary performer … singer, songwriter, actress, and composer.