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.
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.
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.
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!
Jane Monheit and John Pizzarelli add their own smooth and swingin’ touch to George and Ira Gershwin’s You Can’t Take That Away From Me. In this performance they were featured on Ramsey Lewis’ “Legends Of Jazz” series in 2006 and, needless to say, stole the show!
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.
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!
In 2007 at Jazz Baltica, Bobby Hutcherson and his quartet introduced their exciting arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz to the audience in Salzau, Germany. The players were Bobby on vibes, Joe Gilman playing piano, Dwayne Burno on bass and Eddie Marshall at the drums. The complete 1 hour 25 minute concert is available on YouTube.
On Old Folks, Hutcherson added Joe Locke, also on vibes … rounding out a quintet with Don Friedman on piano, Martin Wind on bass, and Andi Haberl playing drums.
In 2020, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, pianist Patrice Rushen together with a trio of jazz giants doffed their masks and socially distanced in order to bring you a virtual jazz concert in a salute to The 25th Annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival in Los Angeles. It’s a bit strange not hearing any cheers or applause … but the artistry and energy of the performers leaves no doubt that a live audience would have torn down the house! The first song is Home Light, an original tune by Ernie Watts. The bottom video is Shorty’s Portion, written by Patrice herself.
Both performances from the concert feature the dazzling Patrice Rushen at the piano, Reggie Hamilton on bass, Ernie Watts playing sax and Marvin “Smitty” Smith on drums.
On April 22, 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, presented a virtual tribute concert celebrating the 2021 NEA Jazz Masters. Topsy, originally written for the Country Basie Orchestra is performed in the top video. It featured Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, Dan Nimmer playing piano, Vince Giordano on both guitar and bass, and Jason Marsalis playing drums. For more background and the complete concert, click the link above.
Below is the Irving Berlin standard Cheek To Cheek, swung by Dee Dee Bridgewater, backed by the SFJAZZ High School All Stars Big Band. Yes, High School!
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