A Dynamic Duo from Charles Mingus

by | Sep 14, 2018 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

Charles Mingus was an American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader, and truly one of the most creative musicians in the business, right down to the titles of his tunes!  Who else could have come up with names like “Don’t Be Afraid, The Clown’s Afraid Too” or “The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers”?  The latter composition is featured in this post.  A major proponent of collective improvisation, Mingus was a man ahead of his time.  Whether big band or small, one listen to his orchestrations and arrangements is all the proof anyone needs.

Celia is a Mingus original from his quintet’s live 1972 performance in Berlin.  It features Charles Mingus on bass, Joe Gardner on trumpet, Hamiet Bluiett playing barry, John Foster at the piano, and Roy Brooks on drums.

The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers

by Charles Mingus | Let My Children Hear Music

Fantan – Shelly Manne and His Men

by | Jul 20, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet, Video

Fantan is a Russ Freeman composition … light ‘n easy bebop for lovers of “The West Coast Sound” during the1950s and early 60s. When talking about creative drummers, you have to put Shelly Manne at the top of the list. He was born in New York but after honing his chops with jazz giants from Stan Kenton to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in 1952 Shelly left the New York scene for Los Angeles. It was there that he really came into his own, as a pioneer and lynchpin of the West Coast “cool jazz” sound. Here he is featured with Russ Freeman on piano, Conte Candoli on trumpet, Ritchie Kamuca doing tenor sax duty and Monte Budwig keeping time on bass.

I Remember Clifford – Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

by | Jul 3, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

When it comes to talent, it just doesn’t get any better than this.  Recorded in Belgium in 1958, this Benny Golson tribute to Clifford Brown features Lee Morgan (trumpet), Benny Golson (tenor sax), Bobby Timmons (piano), Jymie Merritt (bass), and of course Art Blakey (drums).  It was almost prophetic that Lee Morgan would perish only four years later at a very young age, like Brownie, with a dazzling career cut all too short by tragedy.  Still, both men left behind musical legacies that will live forever in the annals of jazz history.

Bird & The Hawk Just Fakin’ It

by | May 25, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

One of only two existing pieces of footage of Charlie Parker (alto) in performance. Here he is joined by Coleman Hawkins (tenor), Hank Jones (piano), Ray Brown (bass) and Buddy Rich (drums). 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.

Route 66 – Natalie Cole & Diana Krall

by | May 18, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

Hundreds of versions exist of Bobby Troup’s song “[Get Your Kicks on] Route 66,” better known simply as “Route 66.”  He wrote it during a cross-country trip on that highway after World War II … and In 1946 Nat King Cole had a huge hit with Troup’s best known song.  Today it is a jazz standard.

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.

Coleman Hawkins and Harry “Sweets” Edison

by | Feb 23, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

The tune is called Disorder At The Border but the “dream band” performing it is in anything but disorder.  It features the perfection of Coleman Hawkins on tenor sax, Harry Edison on trumpet, Sir Charles Thompson playing piano, the fingers of Jimmy Woode strumming the bass and Jo Jones driving the ensemble on drums.  Recorded in 1964.

Cry Me A River – Julie London

by | Feb 2, 2018 | Solo/Duo, Vocal

Sexy is, as the commercials say, “often imitated but never duplicated.”  It’s not baring lots of skin or exhibiting a particular sort of behavior but, rather, it is a natural quality that shines even through a high-button housecoat.  In other words, you either have it or you don’t.  Julie London oozed it!  Cry Me A River pretty much became her signature song and nobody ever did it better … it’s amazing how Julie’s simple but sexy rendition so completely outclasses modern ‘Divas’ with all their vocal gymnastics and glory notes!  This cut is from the May 1964 laser disc The Julie London Show with the Bobby Troup Quintet.

On Green Dolphin Street – John Coltrane

by | Dec 1, 2017 | Quartet/Quintet, Video

This video was taken on March 28, 1960 in Düsseldorf, West Germany during Coltrane’s first time in Europe. The band is one of Miles Davis’s first great quintets, but without Miles who chose to sit out this particular night.  It’s John Coltrane on tenor with sidemen Wynton Kelly on Piano, Paul Chambers bass and Jimmy Cobb drums … all stars in their own right.  The clip is sourced from the John Coltrane “Jazz Icons” DVD.