Two Of A Kind / Dat Dere – Art Blakey

by | Mar 6, 2021 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

Drummer Art Blakey and the 1989 version of his Jazz Messengers (with trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, trombonist Frank Lacy, pianist Geoff Keezer and bassist Buster Williams) celebrated the leader’s 70th birthday by welcoming back several notable alumni: trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Terence Blanchard, altoists Jackie McLeanand Donald Harrison, tenors Wayne Shorter and Benny Golson, pianist Walter Davis Jr. and trombonist Curtis Fuller.  The opening song of that all star  performance was Two Of A Kind … and that set the tone for the next couple of hours.

The lower video features the original Jazz Messengers in 1961 with the slightly comedic Bobby Timmons tune Dat Dere … featuring Blakey on drums, the great Lee Morgan playing trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Bobby Timmons playing piano and Jymie Meritt on bass.

Doxy / Speak Low / Soul Sauce – Cal Tjader

by | Jan 11, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Cal Tjader is most often associated with Latin Jazz, sometimes combining the two and other times moving easily between them.  As you’ll hear on Doxy and Speak Low, he swings with an easy, relaxed feeling … while on his well known 1964 hit Soul Sauce the Latin flavor is very apparent.  The video was recorded live in1959 at Hugh Hefner’s original Playboy Mansion in Chicago.

Speak Low

by Cal Tjader | La Onda Va Bien

Soul Sauce

by Cal Tjader | Soul Sauce

Freddie Freeloader

by | Dec 11, 2020 | Quartet/Quintet, Trio

Freddie Freeloader

by Miles Davis | Kind Of Blue

Landmark album, stellar players … Miles Davis on trumpet, “Cannonball” Adderley on alto sax, Jimmy Cobb plays drums, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly at the piano and Paul Chambers bass.

Freddie Freeloader

by Wes Montgomery | Profiles

Freddie gets a more uptempo treatment here with a trio consisting of Wes Montgomery on guitar, Melvin Rhyne playing organ and George Brown on drums.

Freddie Freeloader

by Bill Evans | You Must Believe In Spring

Here is a more intimate version of the Miles Davis tune, featuring Bill Evans on Piano, the amazing Eddie Gomez playing bass and Elliott Zigmund at the drums.

Freddie Freeloader

by Jon Hendricks and Friends | Freddie Freeloader

It’s Miles Davis’ classic tune with lyrics by Hendricks, featuring Bobby McFerrin singing Wynton Kelly’s piano solo, Al Jarreau singing Davis’ solo, Hendricks singing Coltrane’s tenor solo and George Benson singing Cannonball Adderley’s alto solo. One amazing track.

The Wonderful World of Satchmo

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

If the world ends someday, this song will be the credits.  What A Wonderful World was first recorded and popularized by Louis Armstrong in 1967.  Although there have been many recordings by other significant performers, Satchmo’s rendition continues to stand above the others.  This arrangement is a mellow jazz instrumentation rather than the more common version with strings.  While it isn’t really a jazz tune, I defy anyone to tell me it shouldn’t be included here.

In 1965 The Cold War was raging and the Berlin Wall stood strong, not to keep people out, but to keep people in!  On March 22nd, despite the political tensions and human oppression, the ambassador of jazz Louis Armstrong, gave a legendary concert in East Berlin at the Friedrichsstadt Palast.  The bottom two videos, Mack The Knife and When The Saints Go Marching In are just two of the powerful performances from that evening.

Opus de Jazz – Frank Wess & Milt Jackson

by | Oct 17, 2020 | Quartet/Quintet

At the impressionable age of fourteen, Opus de Jazz was the first jazz album I ever bought.  While the other kids were rocking to Buddy Holly, The Del Vikings and The Platters, I was getting hooked on the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck and Count Basie!  It wasn’t until I became a disc jockey (Back when we actually played those round things made of vinyl) that I developed a nodding acquaintance with Rock music … but my love affair with jazz has only intensified to this day.

Opus de Funk and Opus And Interlude were recorded at a Savoy Records session in New York, October 1955 and were released on the album Opus de Jazz (subtitled A Hi-Fi Recording for Flute, Vibes, Piano, Bass, Drums) along with two other songs in 1956.  All featured Frank Wess on flute (tenor sax on one tune), Milt Jackson on vibes, Kenny Clarke playing drums, Hank Jones at the piano and Eddie Jones on bass.

Opus de Funk

by Frank Wess & Milt Jackson | Opus de Jazz

Opus And Interlude

by Frank Wess & Milt Jackson | Opus de Jazz

Bird’s Centennial: Celebration Pt. 2

by | Sep 5, 2020 | Orchestral, Quartet/Quintet

The first video is one of only two existing pieces of footage of Charlie Parker in performance. This session was recorded in October 1950 in an effort to add video to some previously recorded audio tracks. Bird was smiling because Hawkins, Rich and company were trying to mime their own improvised solos and it wasn’t working out so well. Bird had a good time with it until he got into “trouble” with the producer for laughing at Hawkins. I believe the tune they are attempting to re-dress is called Celebrity.

The second video is the other piece of performance footage and is entitled Hot House.  It was recorded in 1951 and ‘co-features’ Dizzy Gillespie in the days before his trumpet developed its trade mark distinctive ‘curve’.  The two audio selections, Lover Man and They Can’t Take That Away From Me are simply more ‘Bird’ at his best, including a cut from his album with strings.

In this session Bird was, of course, on alto, Coleman Hawkins on tenor, Hank Jones played piano, the great Ray Brown played bass, and you’re sure to recognize Buddy Rich on drums.

When Parker got together with Dizzy Gillespie to jam, you knew the music had to be hot, so the tune was bound to be a few degrees above normal, too!  If you look closely toward the end, you’ll spot Dick Hyman at the piano.

Lover Man

by Charlie Parker | Original Recordings of Charlie Parker

They Can't Take That Away From Me

by Charlie Parker | Charlie Parker With Strings

Two Tenors – John Coltrane & Stan Getz

by | Jun 26, 2020 | Quartet/Quintet

Ballads.  Put your feet up on a rainy Sunday afternoon and let the music wash away the week.  In a rare appearance together, John Coltrane and Stan Getz were actually supposed to be playing Autumn In New York … but it’s the one tune they don’t play!  The medley they do play consists of Autumn Leaves, What’s New and Moonlight In Vermont.  Besides Coltrane and Getz on tenors, Wynton Kelly is at the piano, Paul Chambers is on bass and Jimmy Cobb plays the drums.

Like Someone In Love / Red Suede Shoes – Chuck Loeb

by | Nov 29, 2019 | Quartet/Quintet, Solo/Duo

Like Someone In Love is a jazz standard.  Chuck Loeb was a guitarist with one foot anchored in traditional jazz and the other tap dancing its way around the [so called] smooth jazz genre. John Patitucci is an award winning bassist and composer, who was inspired by the likes of Ray Brown and Ron Carter … but who frequently likes to dance to the beat of his own drummer.  Put all three together and you have a couple of old friends just noodling on a familiar tune that makes everyone within earshot feel like “dis must be da place!”

As a sort of bonus, I’m including Red Suede Shoes as a sample of Chuck’s smooth jazz virtuosity.  Notice the orchestration reaches beyond the usual “death by saxophone” or “death by guitar” sound that seems to dominate the genre.

Red Suede Shoes

by Chuck Loeb | Plain 'n Simple