Joseph Anthony Pass & Edward Kennedy Ellington

by | Feb 27, 2022 | Quartet/Quintet

Hearing Joe Pass and Duke Ellington together would normally be a rare treat in itself, but put them together in a small group setting and you have reason to celebrate!  Ellington was always an underrated piano player, probably because he is usually lost among 15 or 16 other incredibly talented musicians in his own band and you don’t really hear him.  After all, as the leader Duke is often buried in plain sight.  Now add bassist Ray Brown and drummer Louie Bellson to the mix, and what you have is the amazing quartet performing Cottontail in the video above and Love You Madly below on a cut from Duke’s 1974 “Big 4” album. Joe Pass?  Well, he sets fire to any group of fine musicians … large or small, slow or fast!

Love You Madly

by Joe Pass & Duke Elliington | Duke's Big 4

Lee Ritenour And Fourplay

by | Feb 5, 2022 | Quartet/Quintet

Above, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin & Andreas Varady, perform Oliver Nelson’s  “Stolen Moments” at the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival in 2013. Tom Kennedy played bass and Chris Coleman was on drums.  Below, Lee adds Eric Marienthal’s tenor to his quartet for an infectious “Night Rhythms” … a Ritenour original recorded in 1988. Lee started as a session player when he was just 16 years old, and recorded his first solo album, First Course, in 1976.  By the way, Fourplay was the ‘supergroup’ that Lee Ritenour formed and performed with during the Smooth Jazz ’90s.

Carmen McRae In Montreal

by | Nov 27, 2021 | Vocal

Carmen McRae is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, mostly remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics. In other words, when she sang a song, she owned it. The videos below were recorded in 1988 at the International Jazz Festival in Montreal, reputed to be the largest jazz festival on the planet.

 

Of all the songs composed by Thelonious Monk, ‘Round Midnight may be the prettiest melody Monk ever wrote. Carmen sings both the original Jon Hendricks and later Bernie Hanighen lyrics … accompanied by Eric Gunnison on piano, Scott Collie bass, Marc Police playing drums and Clifford Jordan [“Blowing his brains out”] on tenor sax. The Warren & Dubin standard I only Have Eyes For You features the same group but with McRae accompanying herself on piano.

The Virtuosity of Eddie Daniels

by | Nov 19, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Eddie Daniels recorded Slipped Disc during a “Benny Rides Again” tribute to Benny Goodman in 1992. The group was made up of Gary Burton (vb),  Makoto Ozone (p), Marc Johnson (b), Martin Richards (d) and of course Eddie Daniels (c).

Stompin’ At The Savoy was recorded in October of 2012 ‘upstairs’ at Vitello’s in LA.  Joe La Barbera (d), Tom Warrington (b) and Tom Ranier (p) provided a familiar rhythm section since they often head East to perform with Daniels in NY.

Killer Joe / Autumn Leaves – Benny Golson

by | Nov 7, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Born in 1929, saxophonist Benny Golson is one of the last surviving links to the Golden Age of modern jazz, ushered in by the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke and others in the early 1940s. Benny is a multi-talented, internationally famous jazz legend whose talents include composer, arranger, lyricist, producer and world renowned tenor saxophonist.

The video is from the Ramsey Lewis Legends of Jazz T.V. series and features Benny Golson on sax, Willie Pickens at the piano, Larry Gray on bass and Leon Joyce Jr. on the drums playing Killer Joe, a jazz standard written by Golson himself.  The audio track is another standard that is perfect for the season … Autumn Leaves.  It features another quintet with Benny on tenor, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Ray Bryant at the piano, Tommy Bryant playing bass, and Al Harewood on drums.

Autumn Leaves

by Benny Golson | Gone With Golson

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

The Enduring Freddie Hubbard

by | Oct 22, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

God Bless The Child has been interpreted a thousand ways … but I’ll bet you never heard it quite like this (Above)!  In 1991, at Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany,  Freddie Hubbard and his quintet dazzled the audience with an arrangement that was both reverent and softly-swinging.  Freddie was joined by Don Braden on tenor, Benny Green at the piano, Jeff Chambers on base and Louis Hayes playing drums.  Earlier, in 1967 (Below), Hubbard teamed up with Kenny Drew (piano), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), and Alex Riel (drums) to perform an original tune named Birdlike at the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway.  You can bet the ‘Bird’ referenced here had a horn but no feathers!

Sweet Georgia Brown / This Masquerade – Gene Harris

by | Sep 23, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Gene Harris had the unique ability of combining traditional jazz piano with the blues and creating an absolutely distinctive style that set him apart from every other pianist.  Every time you hear Gene play is just like the first time!   The old chestnut Sweet Georgia Brown is from a 1998 performance at The International Jazz Festival in Bern, Switzerland. The quartet combines Gene Harris with Jim Mullen on guitar, Andrew Clayndert on bass and Martin Drew at the drums.

This Masquerade was recorded at a live 1994 performance for PBS in San Diego.  It features a quartet made up of Gene Harris at the piano, Ron Eschete on 7-string guitar, Luther Hughes playing bass, and Paul Humphrey on drums.

Monk Music

by | Jul 18, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

PLEASE NOTE: This will be the last new weekly posting on the site until mid to late September, at which time we expect to resume business as usual.  In the meanwhile, please be sure to explore the many other features on our website, especially the more than 4 years of great PAST PERFORMANCES dating all the way back to February of 2017.  Thank you for visiting and especially for following Mark Of Jazz.com.

In April 1966 Thelonious Monk and his quartet performed a live television concert in Oslo, Norway.  The quartet included Monk playing piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gales playing bass and Ben Riley on drums. They performed a number of Monk standards including Blue Monk (Above) and Monk’s own ‘Round Midnight (Below).  Monk’s playing style is positively unique, using sparse voicings and omitting notes to add dissonance.  His music is almost its own genre, often seeming to inhabit its own musical universe.  Thelonious is something of an acquired taste … one well worth acquiring!