This rare performance of A-Train is from the Legends of Jazz, Piano Masters series with Ramsey Lewis hosting. For the first time in more than forty years, a American national network, PBS, aired a weekly program devoted to jazz. The series aired in 2006 and lasted only 13 weeks, but has become available on both DVD and CD for continuing enjoyment by jazz buffs everywhere.
It’s always a beautiful day in this neighborhood when Wynton Marsalis is in town. A young Wynton lends his trumpet to the mix as he joins the great jazz pianist Johnny Costa, guitarist Joe Negri and drummer Bobby Rawsthone for a memorable rendition of a Mister Rogers classic tune, “Its You I Like,” plus a straight ahead trumpet rendition of “Blue Monk”. Few people realize that Fred Rogers was a hard core jazz buff, composer and actually played the drums quite well!
Henry Jones Jr.(You probably know him as Hank) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer. He has been described by critics and musicians alike as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. Hank recorded more than 60 albums under his own name and countless others as a sideman. Few realize that he was the pianist on May 19, 1962 who played as actress Marilyn Monroe sang her famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President“ song to President John F. Kennedy.
At the Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2006, he featured fantastic live performances of both old and new stars, including Sadao Watanabe, Chick Corea, Hiromi Uehara, and Austin Peralta, who joined Hank’s trio in a ‘perfect storm’ of past, present and potential future legends of jazz.
On Some Day My Prince Will Come, The Hank Jones Trio consists of John Patitucci on bass and Omar Hakim on drums, with Hank, of course, coaxing the warmth of the piano’s tones from the keyboard.
The addition of Hiromi Uehara, Austin Peralta, Chick Corea and Sadao Watanabe provides a new dimension to Blue Monk, one of Thelonious Monk’s most popular and enduring tunes.
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.
Pianist Gene Harris (Remember The Three Sounds?) delivers a slightly different treatment of the jazz classic, “Sweet Georgia Brown”. Along with guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist Andrew Clayndert and drummer Martin Drew, Gene infuses a touch of his early boogie-woogie background into the music at the 1998 Berne Jazz Festival resulting in a very crowd pleasing effect.
This trilogy is from the Show Of The Week T.V. series, recorded in London. The Count Basie Orchestra for this session consists of Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons, Wallace Davenport, Phil Guilbeau, trumpet; Al Grey, Henderson Chambers, Grover Mitchell, trombone; Bill Hughes, bass trombone; Marshall Royal, Bobby Plater, Eric Dixon, reeds; Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, tenor sax; Charlie Fowlkes, baritone sax; Count Basie, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Norman Keenan, acoustic double bass; Rufus ‘Speedy’ Jones, drums.
April In Paris
Count Basie and His Orchestra in a live 1965 performance of this classic tune. It’s exciting to hear his signature arrangement one more once, just as he recorded it on Verve in 1955.
Li’l Darlin’
Here’s a jazz standard written by Neal Hefti for The Count Basie Orchestra. Introduced as an instrumental by The Basie Band in 1957, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross added lyrics a year later.
Jumpin’ At The Woodside
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis delivers an outrageous solo in this 1965 live performance … also featuring Rufus Jones on drums, Freddie Green on guitar and the rest of the Basie Band in its prime!
Jazz flutist Dave Valentin and pianist Dave Grusin join forces for this session videotaped in 1985, live at the famous Record Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, California. Grusin and Valentin are joined by Lee Ritenour on guitar, Larry Williams at the sax and keyboards, Carlos Vega as the drummer man and Abraham Laboriel playing bass.
This is the Bob James Quartet, with David McMurray on Flute, at the Java Jazz Festival in 2010. Originally performed in June 1974 by Roberta Flack, “Feel Like Making Love” has become one of Bob’s concert standards, .
The funky Horace Silver tune, The Jody Grind, spotlights Bob James and his trio at the Festival de Nice, France. Try keeping your feet still with Bob on keyboard, James Genus weaving an infectious bass line and Billy Kilson complementing them both on drums.
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.
Blues Walk, from the album of the same name, is a Lou Donaldson original recorded at Town Hall in New York City on February 22, 1985. It features Lou Donaldson on alto sax, Jimmy Smith on the Hammond B-3, Kenny Burrell playing guitar, and Grady Tate on Drums.
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