Have You Met Mr. Jones?

by | Sep 21, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

Henry Jones Jr.(You probably know him as Hank) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer. He has been described by critics and musicians alike as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. Hank recorded more than 60 albums under his own name and countless others as a sideman. Few realize that he was the pianist on May 19, 1962 who played as actress Marilyn Monroe sang her famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President“ song to President John F. Kennedy.

At the Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2006, he featured fantastic live performances of both old and new stars, including Sadao Watanabe, Chick Corea, Hiromi Uehara, and Austin Peralta, who joined Hank’s trio in a ‘perfect storm’ of past, present and potential future legends of jazz.

On Some Day My Prince Will Come, The Hank Jones Trio consists of John Patitucci on bass and Omar Hakim on drums, with Hank, of course, coaxing the warmth of the piano’s tones from the keyboard.

The addition of Hiromi Uehara, Austin Peralta, Chick Corea and Sadao Watanabe provides a new dimension to Blue Monk, one of Thelonious Monk’s most popular and enduring tunes.

Sweet Georgia Brown – Gene Harris

by | Sep 7, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

Pianist Gene Harris (Remember The Three Sounds?) delivers a slightly different treatment of the jazz classic, “Sweet Georgia Brown”.  Along with guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist Andrew Clayndert and drummer Martin Drew, Gene infuses a touch of his early boogie-woogie background into the music at the 1998 Berne Jazz Festival resulting in a very crowd pleasing effect.

Oasis – Dave Grusin & Dave Valentin

by | Aug 24, 2018 | Big Band, Smooth Jazz

Jazz flutist Dave Valentin and pianist Dave Grusin join forces for this session videotaped in 1985, live at the famous Record Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, California.  Grusin and Valentin are joined by Lee Ritenour on guitar, Larry Williams at the sax and keyboards, Carlos Vega as the drummer man and Abraham Laboriel playing bass.

Baroque Jazz – Claude Bolling & Jean-Pierre Rampal

by | Jul 27, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

On my “What About Dat?” page, I talk about the development of jazz and its shared influences with other types of music.  Pianist Claude Bolling and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal provide classic — or should I say classical — examples of just such a blending of genres in these two ‘grab your socks’ pieces.  Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano was Rampal’s first non-classical recording, although he had been an avid jazz enthusiast for years. The two friends’ intricate performances raised a few eyebrows at CBS records at first, but the result was a popular album with universal appeal.

Baroque and Blue

by C. Bolling & J.P. Rampal | Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano

Fugace

by C. Bolling & J.P. Rampal | Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano

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.

Watermelon Man – Herbie Hancock

by | Jun 1, 2018 | Trio

Herbie Hancock performs “Watermelon Man”, first as originally written in 1962, then in the jazz fusion style he embraced with both hands eleven years later.  Hancock’s first version was released as a grooving hard bop record, and featured improvisations by Freddie Hubbard and Dexter Gordon.  He radically re-worked the tune, combining elements of funk, for his album Head Hunters in 1973.

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.”

Song For My Father – Horace Silver Quintet

by | Mar 23, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

This performance of “Song For My Father” was recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark during the Fall of 1964.   While the quintet was in transition at this point, I believe the personnel we are seeing here are Joe Henderson (ts), Carmell Jones (t), Teddy Smith (b), and Roger Humphries (d) … joining Horace Silver (p) in what is so instantly recognizable as the classic Blue Note sound of that era.  The song, which was dedicated to Horace‘s father John Tavares Silva, and the ensuing 1965 album of the same name, were inspired by a trip the pianist made to Brazil earlier that year.

Art Tatum Classics

by | Feb 16, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

First, Art Tatum with Slam Stewart and Tiny Grimes in 1943 perform “Tiny’s Exercise”.  Then “Art’s Blues” from the 1947 film “The Fabulous Dorseys”. It’s Art Tatum plus Tommy Dorsey (TB), Jimmy Dorsey (C), Charlie Barnet (TS), Ray Bauduc (D) and Ziggy Elman (T).

Here is Art Tatum in 1954 with “Yesterdays”, as only he can play it.  Although legally blind, like so many great musicians, the purported handicap seemed to open a little wider window to his soul.