The Taylor Touch

by | Nov 22, 2024 | Sextet

Billy Taylor did it all … pianist, composer, educator, broadcaster, and worldwide ambassador for America’s Classical Music. More than just an avid spokesman for the jazz idiom, he fought for the recognition of Black musicians as key contributors to the American music scene, promoting jazz as a commentary against racial prejudice. For his performances and professional activities, Taylor (Dr. Taylor, actually) received two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a place in the Hall of Fame for the International Association of Jazz Educators.

His composition and radio theme, It’s a Grand Night For Swinging (top) features Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Frank Wess on tenor, Russell Malone playing guitar, Chip Jackson at the bass, and Winard Harper on drums. The video is from “An Evening with Billy Taylor” at the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild. Billy’s All Alone (bottom) is also an original composition from the same performance in September of 2006.

Another Side of Art

by | Nov 2, 2024 | Sextet

Art Blakey has always been known as an energetic drummer, and The Jazz Messengers recognized as a potent force in jazz. There have been several permutations of The Messengers since 1954, when Horace Silver led the original group. It passed to Blakey after only one year and Art led it for the rest of his life. From 1961 to 1964, he expanded it to include trombonist Curtis Fuller. With Lee Morgan’s untimely demise, Freddie Hubbard became the trumpet player, Cedar Walton took over at piano, and Reggie Workman played bass. Wayne Shorter remained on tenor sax. That’s the group (including Art, of course) that you’ll hear on these selections from the 1963 San Remo Jazz Festival in Italy.

The nostalgic 1937 tune That Old Feeling (above) is a swinging, bop-centric arrangement that’s a bit easier going than the typical Jazz Messenger sound. For all intents and purposes, Blakey reduces the players to a trio, and features Cedar Walton at the piano. Skylark (below), originally from 1941, underwent a resurgence in 1997 with the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” It features Freddie Hubbard, and also shows a softer side of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

 

The Sweet and Swingin’ Sonny Stitt

by | Jun 9, 2024 | Quartet/Quintet, Sextet

Sunny Stitt is often compared with the great Charlie Parker. No wonder … he speaks “Bird!” Everything Happens to Me was recorded in Tivoli, in 1971, with Art Blakey on drums and Al McKibbon on bass.

During a 1964 memorial tribute to Parker in Berlin, Sonny Stitt, J.J. Johnson (tb), Howard McGhee (t), Walter Bishop Jr. (p), Tommy Potter (b), and Kenny Clarke (d), play his composition My Little Suede Shoes.

Lover Man [Oh Where Can You Be] has become a standard … laid back and mellow. Sonny is joined once again by Walter Bishop, Tommy Potter, and Kenny Clarke. More Sonny Stitt … March 15,2019. Compare his Lover Man solos.

‘A’ Midnight Special – Michel Petrucciani

by | Feb 4, 2024 | Sextet, Solo/Duo

(Above) The classic Take the ‘A’ Train is given a highly kinetic treatment by Petrucciani at the 1998 Nice Jazz Festival. He is joined by Anthony Jackson (b), Steve Gadd (d), Stefano DiBattista (ts), Flavio Boltro (tr), & Denis Leloup (tb)

(Left) In 1993, Michel took the stage at the Stuttgart Jazz Festival and captured the audience with a powerful solo performance of Monk’s ‘Round Midnight.  He had everyone checking their watches … waiting for ‘last call!’

The Joy of Samara

by | Jan 5, 2024 | Video, Vocal

I have only two words for you … Samara Joy.  Samara is a marvelous young jazz singer from a musical family in the Bronx New York, who has an incredibly bright future and might even out-Ella Ella one of these days!  Samara’s album “Linger Awhile,” was released in September 2022, winning the award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and she also won Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

The first tune (top) is the Billy Strayhorn tune Lush life … one of my perennial favorites.  Next (middle left) listen to her impeccable phrasing on Can’t Get Out of This Mood, followed by Lady Be Good (middle right) as she channels Ella and adds a few ear-popping twists of her own.  Finally Samara’s poignant video of Guess Who I Saw Today (bottom), a song originally composed for the Broadway musical revue New Faces of 1952.  She was a new face on the jazz scene in 2021, now at the tender age of 24, if she stays on the straight-and-narrow this chanteuse is going places!  Currently, she is touring the globe.

The Softer Side of Earl Klugh

by | Jul 9, 2023 | Septet/Octet, Smooth Jazz

Generally know for his ability to play beautiful melodies and spin soft solos, Take It From The Top is one of Earl Klug’s more up-tempo arrangements –– swinging quietly and still maintaining his trademark mellow sound.  It was originally recorded for BET on Jazz on The Jazz Channel which launched in 1996 with the emphasis on smooth jazz, and has undergone several metamorphoses since.

Wishful Thinking, recorded in 2018 during a weekend of jazz at the Broadmoor, features Earl on guitar, Al Turner on bass, Tom Braxton playing sax, David Lee at the keyboards, and Ron Otis on drums.

Since You’re Gone adds the amazing George Benson to an already mellow mix of musicians –– the way smooth jazz ought to be played. Arguably, two of the greatest guitarists of the modern era in a rare appearance together.

Newport ’71 – Thelonious Monk Et Al

by | Mar 18, 2023 | Sextet

Thelonious Monk is the first stellar name we know … el al is the rest of the who’s who of Bop live on stage. It was Newport ’71 in De Doelen Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Monk was joined by the likes of Art Blakey, Kai Winding, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sonny Stitt, with Al McKibbon bringing up the bass. As you would expect, the solos are out of sight, as the Monk standard, Straight No Chaser takes on a larger-than-life richness that can only be described as very delicious jazz!

Sonny Rollins In Tokyo

by | Mar 7, 2022 | Sextet

On March 30, 1988 Sonny Rollins and a quintet consisting of Clifton Anderson (tb), Jerome Harris (g), Mark Soskin (p), Bob Cranshaw (b), Al Foster (d) gave a live concert in Tokyo that resulted in an album called Dancing In The Dark.  Here are two Rollins originals … the familiar Alfie’s Theme is the top video and Promise, the lower video, became part of that album.

NOTE: I’m sorry to say that this will be the last Mark Of Jazz weekly post until sometime around the middle of May. Thanks for being here and, please, don’t go away … we won’t!

Houston: A Person Worth Listening To

by | Jan 23, 2022 | Sextet

Silk and cement … that’s the way I would describe Houston Person’s tenor voice.  After more than half-a-century, he can still touch you or growl at you during the same musical passage and I’ve always liked what he had to say.  In 2017 Houston appeared in Spain at the San Javier International Jazz Festival with his sextet, Jim Rotondi (t), Dena DeRose (p), D.J. Foster (b) Marc Miralta (dr).  The two videos are from that performance:  The topmost cooks comfortably with the popular 1966 tune Sunny, while the video below it is a wonderfully soulful treatment of the familiar standard Since I Fell For You.  Finally, Person treats our ears and our hearts to the wonderfully gentle But Beautiful, audio from his album The Art And Soul Of Houston Person.

But Beautiful

by Houston Person | The Art And Soul Of Houston Person

Workin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet

by | May 16, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet, Sextet

Green Dolphin Street is from the landmark album Kind of Blue, which has been regarded by many critics as Davis’s masterpiece and one of the greatest jazz albums of all time.  It is a studio recording cut in 1959 featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

The Dave Brubeck composition In Your Own Sweet Way is part of the album Workin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet.  Although recorded in 1956, it wasn’t released until January 1960.  Miles, of course, played trumpet, John Coltrane was on tenor sax, Paul Chambers on base, and Philly Joe Jones played drums.  To my ear, these were Miles Davis’ finest years.

On Green Dolphin Street

by Mies Davis | Kind Of Blue

In Your Own Sweet Way

by Miles Davis | Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet