Charlie Parker Jams on Verve, 1952

While certain critics consider that producer Norman Granz was responsible for encouraging Charlie Parker to veer away from bebop somewhat and venture into more commercial territory, there's no doubt that Granz also helped widen Bird's horizons. It would be enough to mention the classic album Charlie Parker with Strings, in which Parker is paired with a string section to create a masterpiece that has stood the test of time and that would later be imitated by countless jazz soloists. But the producer influenced the career of the saxophonist in other ways, as well. Granz was very involved in the production and promotion of live jazz gatherings known as Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP), all-star groups of jazz musicians who interacted in a jam-session format and who toured both the U.S. and overseas. Many of these live concerts have been preserved on tape thanks to Granz's foresight, and the producer also organized similar studio sessions with an eye to releasing them commercially. One of these, cut in July 1952, involved Parker, who was joined by a stellar cast that included Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges on alto sax, Ben Webster and Flip Phillips on tenor, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and J.C. Heard on drums.

Jazz producer Norman Granz

It's well known that all-star dates can be hit or miss, but from the very first bars it seems clear that this one is most definitely a winner. The length of the four cuts recorded (all of them over 13 minutes each) affords plenty of room for each soloist to show off his undeniable talents, and nobody gets in the way of anyone else. The result is a classic jam session that keeps surprising new listeners several decades after its original release. The meeting of these jazz greats is bookended by two bluesy compositions, "Jam Blues" and "Funky Blues," which work perfectly as vehicles for each participant to explore familiar musical territory in a succession of imaginative solos that allow us to experience different approaches to the blues idiom. Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love," introduced by an energetic piano solo by Peterson, is taken at a breakneck tempo and serves as an excuse for some inspired blowing by everyone. Finally, the cut simply entitled "Ballad Medley" presents the group at its mellowest and most intimate, as they tastefully run through a selection of slow standards by Jerome Kern, Matt Dennis, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and others. Throughout the whole session there's that kind of electricity created by a group of excellent musicians who feel comfortable playing together and who constantly spur each other on to achieve new heights with every new solo. The album has been issued on CD as Charlie Parker Jam Session, and its contents are also available as part of the five-disc set The Complete Norman Granz Jam Sessions, which also presents other similar jams produced by Granz in the same time period. While there are other Bird recordings that one should listen to first, in my opinion this remains one of the most satisfying dates of his remarkable career.

Frank Sinatra and Neal Hefti Swing with Brass, 1962

Since 2015 has marked Frank Sinatra's centennial, which was duly celebrated throughout the year in the mass media, it seems only fitting to end the year with a post about the Chairman of the Board, and more specifically about one of those albums he recorded in the 1960s that often get lost in the mix when it comes to discussing his contribution to 20th-century popular music. Sinatra and Swingin' Brass, released in 1962 on his own label, Reprise Records, represents Sinatra's first full-length collaboration with arranger Neal Hefti, who had worked intermittently with the singer in the previous ten years but hadn't had the chance to arrange a whole album for Sinatra before. This was Sinatra's fifth Reprise project, and like other records he cut for the label (Ring-a-Ding-Ding and I Remember Tommy, for instance) it constitutes a look back at the big band days, with powerful, swinging arrangements that favor uptempo numbers over ballads. This is evident from the opening track, a jumpy take on "Goody Goody" that features some exciting drumming from Earl Palmer. The arrangement of this song is precisely the one Sinatra used on live appearances from this period like the one captured on the CD Sinatra and Sextet Live in Paris. Looking through the track listing, the only slow song on the LP is "Serenade in Blue," and even here the tempo builds up steadily, and it turns out to be quite a danceable reading of the old Mack Gordon and Harry Warren standard.

Neal Hefti and Frank Sinatra in the studio in the 1960s

Sinatra also seems interested in updating some of the tunes he'd already recorded for Capitol with Nelson Riddle, such as "I Get a Kick Out of You," "At Long Last Love," and "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Hefti does an excellent job reinventing Riddle's familiar arrangements without ever sounding like Riddle, which is indeed a difficult task, and "Kick" is punctuated by a lovely alto sax solo that probably comes courtesy of Joe Maini. Tenor saxophone legend Ben Webster also contributes a characteristically classy solo to Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light," but it's much too brief and makes us wish that someone had seen fit to feature Webster more prominently on these sessions. In hindsight, of course, it's baffling to consider that nobody thought of that at the time. Sinatra runs through "Tangerine," a song often recorded by different bands during the Swing Era and before, in an appropriately light-hearted sort of way, and "Ain't She Sweet" is a fine example of Hefti's inventive arranging inspiring Sinatra to play around with the melody and the inconsequential lyrics, something that he also does on "Love Is Just Around the Corner." In an album in which most tracks clock in at under three minutes, "Don'cha Go 'Way Mad" is one of the longest arrangements and to my ears perhaps one of the least interesting, maybe because the song isn't one of the strongest in the set. Hefti makes Cole Porter's "I Love You" swing lightly at the beginning, but then towards the end, Sinatra comes back to drive the song home with a bang. "Pick Yourself Up" is a fitting closing track for the album, and here Sinatra seems to be having fun with Hefti's attractive chart until he finally decides that he's had enough and actually ends the record by jokingly saying so. It wouldn't take too long for Hefti to work with Sinatra again: just a few months later they were back in the studio together, along with the Count Basie Orchestra, to record Sinatra-Basie, but this first collaboration between the two, although perhaps not as well known as the album with Basie, is full of the same kind of excitement that Hefti helped create for the Basie band of the Atomic period and should be celebrated as one of Sinatra's best outings of his Reprise years.