New Releases: Woody Shaw Live in Tokyo, 1981

I would like to offer my gratitude to my good friend Guy Jones for alerting me to the recent release of this excellent Woody Shaw album.

The European label Elemental Music describes itself as "a new label that specializes in releasing newly discovered archival or out-of-print jazz recordings," and one of its latest issues is Tokyo '81, an outstanding concert by trumpeter Woody Shaw in Japan that had lain dormant in the vaults for several decades. Shaw, who on this occasion plays both trumpet and flugelhorn, appears in a quintet setting alongside a stellar lineup: Steve Turre on trombone and percussion, Mulgrew Miller on piano, Stafford James on bass, and Tony Reedus on drums. Though the tapes are almost forty years old, the sound is good, and the repertoire is magnificent and extremely accessible, consisting of four Shaw originals, one composition by Miller, and a tour-de-force interpretation of Thelonious Monk's well-known standard "'Round Midnight."

The opening track, an extended reading of Shaw's "Rosewood," sets the pace for the rest of the concert: the listener will be treated to Shaw's inimitable style of jazz, with lengthy versions of tunes that will afford plenty of opportunities for everyone involved to shine. This is particularly evident in the 15-minute "'Round Midnight," one of the true gems of the album, which brings to the fore the musical richness and genius of the Monk standard, which has been played so often that it's seemingly impossible to make it sound fresh and different. Yet the quintet achieves just that, mixing soft, intimate passages with others that pick up the tempo and the energy, and featuring extremely inventive solos by Shaw, Miller, and Turre. On "Apex," written by Miller, the piano is understandably more prominent, and the melody inspires Turre and Shaw to do some swift, highly imaginative soloing.

Pianist Mulgrew Miller.

The ballad "From Moment to Moment" slows down the proceedings, with Shaw playing in a melancholy, yet passionate way, ably supported by the rhythm section, and Turre exploring the lower registers of the trombone in a short but memorable solo. "Song of Songs" is arguably the most experimental of the six tunes, a fresh reading of the title track of Shaw's 1972 album that opens with a dissonant dialogue between the trumpet and the piano with Reedus playing the cymbals in the background and that clocks in at over 16 minutes of intensely expressive playing. Finally, "Theme for Maxine" is no more than a closing vamp that allows the leader to introduce the band and put an end to an excellent concert. We congratulate Elemental Music on the release of this indispensable live appearance by Shaw that would have gone otherwise unnoticed and hope that there will be many more similar issues from this label in the near future.

Trombonist Steve Turre.

Spike Robinson Live in Denver, 1991

Spike Robinson

A recent post about tenorist Spike Robinson in Marc Myers's blog JazzWax made me dust off my Robinson records and enjoy them all over again after several years. And I have many, all of them wonderful, because as Myers rightly says, "there are no bad Spike Robinson recordings." Born in Kenosha, WI, in 1930, Robinson didn't pursue a full-time career as a jazz musician until he was in his fifties. His job as a mechanical engineer paid the bills, and he simply played occasionally at nights in Colorado, mostly in the Boulder and Denver areas. He'd begun on alto saxophone and clarinet but later switched to tenor, and his playing was cast in the Four Brothers mold of Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and Stan Getz. Robinson had a knack for ballads, but no matter what he plays, his warm tone always shines through. While in the Navy in the 1950s, he found himself in England, where he collaborated with some of the best British jazz musicians of the time, such as Victor Feldman and Johnny Dankworth, and where he even got to make his first records. Upon his return to civilian life in the United States, Robinson settled into his job as an engineer and wouldn't record again until about three decades later. His tours of the United Kingdom and other European countries in the 1980s created such a stir that he decided to quit his job and move there, making constant live appearances and recording quite prolifically for a variety of labels such as Capri, Hep, and Concord. Robinson passed away in England in 2001 at age 71.

Guitarist Mundell Lowe

One of my favorite albums by Robinson, Reminiscin' (Capri Records, 1992), captures him live at the Jazz Works in Denver in December 1991, in the company of guitarist Mundell Lowe, bassist Monty Budwig (one of his last appearances on record), and drummer Jake Hanna. This pianoless quartet setting brings out the Getz-like qualities of Robinson's playing, and both dates (December 12 and 15) find him exploring the higher registers of the tenor saxophone. The eight selections (all of them standards plus a bluesy original by Robinson) clock in at over six minutes, with plenty of opportunities for everyone to show their skills, particularly the leader and Lowe, who engage in long solos with the strong support of Budwig's bass. There are a quite a few peppy mid-tempo numbers, like the opener, "Dancing in the Dark," "The Girl Next Door," "Yours Is My Heart Alone," and a charming, Latin-flavored reading of "Without You." The excellent ballad "My Silent Love" is taken at a faster tempo than usual, but the album also showcases Robinson's breathy, Lester Young-influenced approach to slow tunes on Cole Porter's "Dream Dancing" and Rodgers and Hart's "Where or When." The album closer, Robinson's own "Blues for Sooz," is the perfect vehicle for the quartet to effortlessly delve into the blues idiom and simply have some fun playing together. Though rather forgotten today, Spike Robinson is one of the best saxophonists of the 1980s and '90s and deserves to be heard because he indeed never made a bad album.

Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East, 1961

One of the smoothest and most successful jazz and pop vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, Billy Eckstine was also one of the most forward-thinking, as we can infer from the lineup of his famous orchestra of the mid-'40s, which included soon-to-be famous jazzmen such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, and Art Blakey, among many others. Not only was Mr. B a fantastic vocalist, but he was also an intelligent man who made his mark socially and politically. As critic Will Friedwald has noted in his Biographical Guide, "before Louis Armstrong or Nat King Cole dared sing anything other than the blues or novelties, Billy Eckstine was among the first to show the world that the black man could be intellectual, passionate, sensitive, literate, articulate, proud—and profound." Indeed, Eckstine was all this, but most of all, he was profound: his voice was rich and deep, and he imbued everything he sang with a depth that very few singers in jazz, pop, or any other style could even dream of achieving. He felt at ease singing different types of music, but he excelled at the art of the ballad, particularly that of the intimate, emotionally deep variety, like his big 1947 hit, "Everything I Have Is Yours." No wonder that his female fans—black and white alike, in a time of open segregation, no less—went wild over him. He was simply just that deep, that emotional, that attractive.

Producer and arranger Quincy Jones.

By October 1961, when he was recorded live at Basin Street East in New York City, Eckstine's hit-making days were pretty much over, yet he was still at his peak vocally. For this engagement at the legendary club, Mr. B assembled a fantastic orchestra including great musicians such as trumpeter Joe Newman, trombonists Curtis Fuller and Melba Liston, and altoist Phil Woods. With Quincy Jones at the helm and taking care of the arrangements, the results couldn't be anything but outstanding. The album kicks off with a spirited R&B-inflected reading of "All Right, Okay, You Win" that makes it instantly clear that Eckstine still has it and that the listener is in for a real treat. After jokingly describing himself as "the Fabian of the forties," Eckstine goes into a lovely medley of three ballads ("I'm Falling for You," "Fool That I Am," and the classic "Everything I Have Is Yours") that show his mastery of the romantic ballad to great effect. Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night" is infused with a tasteful Latin beat that suits Eckstine's style perfectly. Next comes one of the highlights of the album—a medley of four Duke Ellington standards that work very well together and that Mr. B performs effortlessly, apparently in front of Ellington himself, who was in the audience on that particular night. Eckstine then moves into more contemporary territory, and his interpretation of Nat Adderley's "Work Song" is surprising for its gospel undertones. The album closes with a fun, swinging rendition of the Con Conrad novelty "Ma (She's Making Eyes at Me)" that once again indicates Eckstine's versatility. Released on Mercury as Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East, this is one of Eckstine's best live records, and my only complaint about it is that it's entirely too short.

Bill Charlap and Guests to Play at New York's Jazz Standard, Jan. 10-15

We've just heard that New York-based pianist Bill Charlap will be playing a one-week stint at the Jazz Standard Club, in NYC (116 East 27th Street) between January 10-15. Charlap will appear in a variety of settings, including solo and with his trio, and will be joined by several interesting guests, such as vocalist Carol Sloane (Jan. 11), pianist and wife Renee Rosnes (Jan. 12-13), and pianist-singer Freddy Cole and saxophonist Houston Person (Jan. 14). One of the best pianist on the jazz scene today, Charlap collaborated with Tony Bennett on the excellent Jerome Kern songbook The Silver Lining in 2015 (my review is available here) and has recently followed it up with a new trio effort, Notes from New York (Impulse). Accompanied by Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington (no relation!) on drums, this new album shows the perfect understanding between the three musicians, and its repertoire, which mixes well-known standards ("I'll Remember April," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "A Sleepin' Bee") with lesser-known tunes by Vernon Duke ("Not a Care in the World"), Alan and Marilyn Bergman ("Make Me Rainbows"), and Thad Jones ("Little Rascal on a Rock"), proves to be the right vehicle to showcase Charlap's elegant and exciting playing.

At the Jazz Standard, Charlap will play two sets each evening (at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.), and if you'd like any more information or wish to make reservations, you may call 212-576-2232. If you happen to be in New York between January 10-15, this is certainly a show not to be missed!

Duke Ellington at the Rainbow Grille, 1967

While Duke Ellington often led sessions with small groups, particularly in the early years of his career, unfortunately not too many of his recordings in an octet setting have survived. The Duke Ellington Octet at the Rainbow Grille, released by Gambit Records in 2006, presents one of them, a very interesting date at New York's Rainbow Grille from August 17, 1967, preserved for posterity due to the fact that it was broadcast by the CBS radio network, back in the days when the networks were still interested in offering high-quality live jazz to their listenership. The first five tunes on this album are apparently rehearsals that the sound engineer caught on tape while adjusting the balances in preparation for the broadcast. The first of these finds the Duke at the piano, wistfully playing a medley of two of his lesser-known compositions, "Heaven" and "Le Sucrier Velours," and in the background we can hear people chatting and glasses clinking, which suggests that nobody seems to be paying much attention to the performance. The whole octet begins to warm up next, using for that purpose classic Ellington numbers such as "In a Sentimental Mood" (which you can hear in the video at the end of this post), "Azure," and "I'm Beginning to See the Light," as well as a rocking tune called "Rock the Clock."

Then the broadcast proper begins, after an announcer urges the crowd to applaud as the band goes on the air, and the sound improves somewhat. The octet is made up of star soloists from within the Ellington orchestra, namely Cat Anderson on trumpet, Lawrence Brown on trombone, Johnny Hodges on alto, Paul Gonsalves on tenor, and Harry Carney on baritone, supported by a rhythm section that includes the Duke himself on piano, bassist John Lamb, and drummer Steve Little. This reduced lineup called for new arrangements, which in the hands of all these giants sound rich and full of excitement, giving all the horns plenty of chances to shine. The set list features many Ellington and Billy Strayhorn standards, such as "Take the 'A' Train," "Satin Doll," "Sophisticated Lady," "Passion Flower," "Solitude," and "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," as well as Juan Tizol's "Perdido," which is ably performed here by Cat Anderson. Ellington himself, of course, is heavily spotlighted on piano, and his playing, as usual, is never less than superb. This is definitely a very welcome release, with personnel information and well-written liner notes that could, however, be a little more detailed. It appears that several other performances from this Ellington octet engagement exist, and judging by the quality of the music we can hear on this CD, they all deserve to be issued commercially.

John Coltrane's Giant Steps at the Nashville Jazz Workshop

Aylor, Finnie, Nardone, and Aliquo

When one lives in rural northwest Tennessee, there aren't quite enough opportunities available to enjoy good live jazz. However, just a couple of hours to the east there's the Nashville Jazz Workshop, on Adams St., in the Germantown area of the Tennessee capital. The Workshop is a haven for jazz fans and musicians in a city that's usually better known for other kinds of music. Last Saturday night, as part of a series focusing on great jazz albums, the Workshop presented a quartet led by tenorist Don Aliquo and featuring pianist Jody Nardone, drummer Marcus Finnie, and bassist Jack Aylor. The band, which got together exclusively for this gig, played all the tracks on John Coltrane's classic 1959 LP Giant Steps, one of the most celebrated of Trane's fabulous discography. I attended the early show (at 6:00 p.m.; there was also a late show at 8:30) with my wife, my daughter and some close relatives and enjoyed some fantastic music played to a few dozen people sitting at tables in a small, welcoming venue that seats around 100. Pittsburgh-born tenor saxophonist Aliquo has lived in Nashville for almost 20 years and is a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, as well as a much in-demand jazzman around the Music City and all over the country. As the albums he's recorded so far suggest, he is influenced not only by Coltrane, but also by other sax greats like Dexter Gordon and Stanley Turrentine. His flawless technique and uncanny ability to create engaging solos at a breakneck speed make him the perfect choice to handle Coltrane's complex, highly demanding compositions. Yet Aliquo can also play in a sensitive sensual manner, as he did on the ballad "Naima," and as some of the tunes from his recent collaboration with pianist Beegie Adair (Too Marvelous for Words) demonstrate.

This blog's author with Don Aliquo

Aliquo was in fine company last Saturday at the Workshop. New Jersey native Nardone has also worked with countless jazz legends and displays an attractive, energetic piano style that worked well both in support of Aliquo's tenor and when it came time to solo. The wistful introduction he played on "Naima" was one of the highlights of the concert. Finnie, who hails from Memphis, is a very accomplished drummer with a great deal of experience both in and outside of jazz. His dynamic approach and spectacular drumming constantly met with the general approval and applause of the audience and helped propel the quartet's inspired performances. Finally, Aylor, by far the youngest musician on the stage on Saturday night, and currently a jazz student at New York's Columbia University, is quickly becoming one of the most promising young jazz bassists in his hometown of Nashville. Aylor has a natural sense of rhythm and blended perfectly well with the rest of the rhythm section, handling Paul Chambers's often complex bass solos with great ease. The evening began with a sprightly version of the title track, which set the tone for the rest of the concert, with Aliquo leading the quartet in an authoritative but always generous fashion, stepping to one side of the stage whenever he wasn't soloing in order to allow the rest of the musicians to take the spotlight. Though the idea was to play tribute to the legendary LP, the band didn't try to merely imitate the great Coltrane quartet, but rather they reinterpreted its timeless tunes (from "Cousin Mary" to the flurry of notes that is "Countdown" to a spirited reading of "Spiral" to the intriguing "Syeeda's Song Flute" to "Naima," the only slow number on the album) with great reverence and respect. Showing he's also an educator, Aliquo even took the time to briefly introduce some of the tracks, providing a little background information that added to the audience's enjoyment of the music that was being presented. The evening came to a close not long after a rousing drum solo by Finnie on "Mr. P.C.," the bluesy album closer. In short, it was a lovely event at the Nashville Jazz Workshop that served not only to showcase a magnificent live performance of a legendary album but also to introduce some of us in the audience to four musicians of different backgrounds and ages brought together by a common love of classic jazz.

The quartet on stage at the Nashville Jazz Workshop

Count Basie in Stockholm with Louis Bellson, 1962

In 1962, drummer Sonny Payne was involved in a car accident and had to bow out of the Count Basie orchestra's impending tour of Sweden, forcing the Count to find a suitable replacement quickly. And a suitable bench man he did find when he hired the great Louis Bellson for the tour, which took the band all over Sweden, playing mostly in small towns but also in bigger cities like Gothenburg, Malmö, and of course, Stockholm. In the Swedish capital, Basie and his crew played a five-night engagement at Gröna Lunds Tivoli, which included both a nightly concert and a session strictly for dancers. Someone at Roulette Records had the good presence of mind to tape some of the music played at these sessions for dancers, and some of these tracks appeared on Basie in Sweden, which turned out to be Basie's final LP for the label—and a very enjoyable one at that.

Drummer Louis Bellson

At these more informal sessions, the band sounds extremely relaxed, inspired to take exciting solos, and properly propelled by Bellson's high-octane drumming. Though perhaps not quite as explosive as Payne, Bellson has a very personal flair for swinging, and his drumming always sounds classy and elegant. This later edition of the Atomic Basie band features a lineup full of legendary sidemen, among them reedmen Frank Wess and Frank Foster, trumpeters Thad Jones and Benny Bailey, trombonists Benny Powell and Ake Persson, and guitarist Freddie Green. As one would expect, there's plenty of swing to go around, from the album opener, "Little Pony," to its closer, "Peace Pipe," and many others in between ("Corner Pocket," "Splanky," "Four, Five Six"). It's almost a cliche now to describe the Basie outfit as a well-oiled swinging machine, and these recordings provide ample proof that there's a lot of truth behind that cliche. But the band can also take it easy whenever necessary, as on the rather subdued reading of Neal Hefti's "Plymouth Rock" or on the standard "April in Paris," the latter with some fine contributions by Thad Jones. Duke Ellington's "In a Mellotone" is another highlight of a live album full of highlights, and Basie even has room to spotlight vocalist Irene Reid's bluesy tribute to Bessie Smith on "Backwater Blues." The 1991 CD reissue, which has some very informative liner notes by Basie bio-discographer Chris Sheridan, includes four previously unreleased tracks, but the music is so good that it still leaves you hungry for more from this unique teaming of Basie and Bellson.

Benny Goodman Live on the West Coast, 1960

During my recent trip to Europe, I rediscovered an album that I'd long forgotten—the outstanding Benny Goodman Swings Again, perhaps one of the least discussed entries in the prolific Benny Goodman discography. Early in 1960, the King of Swing put together a swinging new band for touring purposes. The ten-piece outfit included magnificent musicians such as vibraphonist Red Norvo, tenorist Flip Phillips, altoist Jerry Dodgion, trombonist Murray McEachern, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, pianist Russ Freeman, guitarist Jimmy Wyble, bassist Red Wooten, and drummer John Markham. This was essentially an augmented lineup of the Norvo-led quintet that a few months before had accompanied Frank Sinatra at a concert in Melborne that Blue Note released in the '90s under the title of Frank Sinatra Live in Australia 1959. The Goodman album was released by Columbia and was recorded live at Ciro's in Hollywood and Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, which explains its subtitle, "Recorded Live on the West Coast." It features exciting new readings of Goodman classics such as "Air Mail Special," "Slipped Disc," "I Want to Be Happy," and "After You've Gone" and captures the fresh sound of this tightly knit band in a live setting, the updated arrangements leaving plenty of room for solos not only by the leader but also by Norvo, Phillips, Sheldon, and the rest of the sidemen, all of whom get several chances to showcase their talents.

Benny Goodman, 1960s (Photo: Herb Snitzer)

Goodman is undeniably in top form and even vocalizes—and forgets the lyrics!—on "Gotta Be This or That," a number that he always enjoyed singing. The only ballad on the set list, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Where or When," is actually one of the highlights, an opportunity for Goodman to show his tender side amid so much swinging uptempo material. Though the clarinetist's contempt for and dislike of vocalists was no secret, he features the lesser-known singer Maria Marshall on two selections, "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" and "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home," both of which she delivers in a style clearly reminiscent of Judy Garland. A rather obscure vocalist, Marshall also worked with the likes of Chubby Jackson and one Frank DuBois, though I admit the two numbers on this LP are the only recordings by her I've ever heard. Judging by the cover, one of the selling points of the album was a new nine-and-a-half-minute rendition of "Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing)," and although this 1960 arrangement is no match for the classic 1938 Carnegie Hall version, it's still an engaging, spirited performance. Critic Gene Knight, who attended one of these concerts, enthusiastically described Goodman's gig in the New York Journal-American as "an electric shock, administered musically . . . all the old favorites became new favorites again . . . there were shouts, cheers; customers stood up and applauded wildly . . . last night, as always, Benny was BIG!" And Benny Goodman Swings Again fortunately preserves on tape some of the excitement created by this early '60s Goodman outfit for our listening pleasure—alas, my sole complaint is that it only features nine tracks!

Jazz Flash News: Suncoast Jazz Classic Festival, November 18-20, 2016

A couple of days ago I received a flyer in the mail announcing the 26th Annual Suncoast Jazz Classic, which will be held in Clearwater Beach, FL, between November 18-20. Two days prior to the official opening of the festival, on November 16, the latest edition of The Four Freshmen will be appearing at the Largo Cultural Center. Performers who will be taking part in the event come from all over the U.S. and Canada, and their styles range from gypsy jazz to swing, English trad jazz, samba jazz, and even avant garde. So, as you can see, there's a little bit to please all sorts of jazz fans. Local artists such as Nate Najar, Bob Price, the Bill Alfred Classic Jazz Band, and Betty Comora ("an eclectic entertainer") will be joined by musicians hailing from New York (Ken Peplowski, The Midiri Brothers), Illinois (The Fat Babies), California (High Sierra), St. Louis (Cornet Chop Suey), Michigan (Dave Bennett Quartet), and Canada (Climax Jazz Band). The venues for most of these appearances are the Sheraton Sand Key Resort and the Marriott Suites on Sand Key, and anyone interested in more information about the festival, ticket prices, and hotel rates can access it here. If you find yourself in the Sunshine State in mid-November, this may be the event for you!

Clarinetist Ken Peplowski is one of several participants in this year's Suncoast Jazz Classic

Chris Barber Live in East Berlin, 1968

Along with Humphrey Lyttelton, Ken Colyer, Kenny Ball, and Acker Bilk, among others, trombonist Chris Barber is one of the elder statesmen of British trad jazz, which was all the rage in the United Kingdom throughout the 1950s and would spawn and help popularize other styles such as skiffle and the British beat of the 1960s. Yet though his music is undeniably inspired by the classic New Orleans tradition, Barber has always had the ability to change with the times, which explains why he's managed to build up a following and stay current for such a long time. That may also go a long way toward explaining the international appeal of his band, which, as we can see from the title of the album we're presenting here, extended even beyond the old Iron Curtain. Barber was born in Hertfordshire in 1930, and after developing an interest in New Orleans jazz and the blues, he formed his first band while still a teenager. Barber had his biggest hits in the 1950s, among them the smash "Petite Fleur," with a memorable appearance from Monty Sunshine on clarinet. Scottish banjoist Lonnie Donegan played with Barber for several years, and his version of "Rock Island Line" hit the charts while he was still a member of Barber's outfit, thereby prompting the short-lived skiffle craze of the mid-'50s. The sound of Barber's band was always tight and exciting, and his affinity for the blues led to many gigs backing American bluesmen who were on tour in Britain. Barber even organized some of these tours, helping bring excellent blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Big Bill Broonzy to the British Isles and helping pave the way for R&B-inspired bands like the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones.

The first time I ever heard Barber was on a two-volume vinyl album that my father had and that included a late-'60s live appearance by his band in East Berlin, and I was impressed by the irresistible sound of a band that seemed to be having a ball on stage that day at the Friedrichstadt Palast. Fortunately, that concert was reissued on CD by the Black Lion label in 1990 as Live in East Berlin, with excellent sound, and from the very beginning of the record we quickly realize that we're in for a treat. The band uses "I Never Shall Forget" as a vehicle for a German announcer to introduce each musician individually, after which they launch into an infectiously joyful reading of "Royal Garden Blues." Barber, of course, is on trombone, and the group includes fine trad musicians like trumpeter Pat Halcox, altoist / clarinetist John Crocker, guitarist John Slaughter, banjoist Stu Morrison, bassist Jackie Flavelle, and drummer Graham Burbridge. The repertoire includes New Orleans staples such as "Royal Garden Blues" and "Wild Cat Blues," some popular standards like "Lazy River" and "Makin' Whoopee," and even some sacred numbers such as "Over in Gloryland" and "God Can Do Anything." There are tips of the hat to Barney Bigard ("Saratoga Swing"), George Lewis ("St. Phillip Street Breakdown"), and early Johnny Hodges ("Sweet as Bear Meat"), and there's even time for Barber's own "Battersea Rain Dance." Barber uses Hoagy Carmichael's "Lazy River" to showcase his warm, blues-inflected trombone style, and Bigard's "Saratoga Swing," one of the many highlights of the concert, becomes a nine-minute tour de force with outstanding bluesy solos from Halcox and Slaughter. For over sixty years now, Chris Barber has been leading one of the best jazz outfits to come out of Britain, and this live recording in East Berlin catches the band in its prime in 1968 and is as good an introduction to Barber's sound as any compilation of his studio recordings.

Guest Contributor: Noal Cohen on Gigi Gryce's 90th Anniversary Tribute at Smalls Jazz Club, NYC

Noal Cohen

Jazz legend Gigi Gryce would have turned 90 last Saturday, November 28, and the anniversary was celebrated at Smalls Jazz Club, in New York City, with a stellar tribute featuring the Chris Byars sextet. My friend Noal Cohen, an accomplished musician and jazz historian who is the author of the definitive biography of Gryce, was there, and he has agreed to contribute a brief Jazz Flash about the event. I appreciate it, Noal, and I sincerely wish I could have been there!

GIGI GRYCE'S 90th ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE AT SMALLS JAZZ CLUB, NYC

Promoting the legacies of largely forgotten jazz musicians can be a frustrating undertaking. It always was, but in today’s world of tweets, sound bites and history being what happened yesterday, it seems at times almost impossible to get people interested in musicians like Gigi Gryce, Lucky Thompson, Frank Strozier, Teddy Charles, Elmo Hope, Herb Geller and many more.

That’s why an event that took place on November 28, 2015, at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City was quite remarkable. It was a tribute to saxophonist / arranger / composer / music publisher Gigi Gryce (aka Basheer Qusim) on the 90th anniversary of his birth. The band performing Gryce’s music was the Chris Byars Sextet with Chris, alto sax, John Mosca, trombone, Stefano Doglioni, bass clarinet, Pasquale Grasso (guitar – his parents were in the audience), Ari Roland, bass and Stefan Schatz, drums and they were on fire! The club was packed for both sets and the audience was appreciative, attentive and totally into the music and Gryce’s intriguing story. Vocalist Yaala Ballin sang Gryce’s classic “Social Call” with Jon Hendricks’ lyrics and alto saxophonist Zaid Nasser sat in on a couple of numbers. (It’s interesting to note that when Chris Byars did his first Gryce concert at Smalls back in November of 2002, the vocalist who sang “Social Call” was a young Nellie McKay.)

Saxophonist Chris Byars

And it should not be assumed that these performances were simply recreations of the past. No, it was old wine in new bottles, with Byars’ arrangements and the musicians' solos putting a 2015 spin on music dating back to the 1950s.

Yours truly got to speak about the 13 Gryce compositions that were performed and sign copies of Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce (Current Research in Jazz, second edition). One copy went to a beautiful lady who had travelled all the way from Finland. Another to a delightful young man from Wisconsin with Down Syndrome who expressed to me his love of jazz. Smalls is truly a New York City arts destination and can always be counted on to be filled with patrons from all over the world as well as musicians young and old looking for a venue to play straight ahead, swinging music.

Noal Cohen

Montclair, NJ

Herbie Brock's 'Herbie's Room'

I recently wrote an article in Spanish about Herbie Brock, who is possibly one of the most obscure pianists in jazz history and sadly forgotten these days. That post was about his 1956 Savoy album, Brock's Tops, one of merely six records he made between 1955 and 1965, most of which aren't even available on CD. The only full-length writing I've found about Brock is this entry in Wall Street Journal jazz critic Marc Myers's blog, JazzWax, and in it, Myers tells us that Brock learned to play the piano, the organ, and the saxophone while attending the State School for the Blind in Batavia, NY, and then appeared in clubs in Rochester and even toured as a piano duo with one Buddy Satan, who was his brother-in-law. In the early 1950s, Brock relocated to Florida, soon garnering quite a reputation at Miami's Onyx Club, which led to his mid-'50s recordings for Savoy and Criteria. As far as we know, Brock didn't make any further records after 1965, though he kept appearing live in clubs, mostly around Florida and the Miami area.

Herbie's Room is his third album, and the only one he made for Criteria (fortunately reissued in 2000 by VSOP), and it was recorded live in August 1957 at a club called Herbie's Room, apparently because, as the liner notes by Jeff Barr state, "the owner had Brock at the keyboard seven days a week." On the eight tracks—most of them standards—Brock is accompanied by Brooks Caperton on bass and Bill Ladley on drums, and his very attractive piano style mixes swing and bop in equal parts, clearly reflecting the influence of both Art Tatum and Bud Powell, two pianists that Brock admired greatly. Brock is at his most boppish on Sonny Rollins's "Doxy" and Lennie Niehaus's "Johnny Jaguaar," and although this album doesn't include any of his own compositions, he imbues every track with his highly personal style, taking "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," for instance, at a faster tempo than is customary. Ballads such as "Tenderly," "My Funny Valentine," and "Laura" are full of Tatum-esque runs and sense of drama and suggest that Brock must have been listening to piano virtuosi like Eddy Duchin and Carmen Cavallaro. I love the very poetic way in which Myers sums up Brock's contribution to jazz, calling him "another superb jazz ship passing in the night." Albums like Herbie's Room leave no doubt that it's high time we brought him back out of obscurity.

Jimmy Rushing Live in New York with Zoot Sims and Al Cohn

The first time I ever heard Jimmy Rushing, on a recording of "He Ain't Got Rhythm" he made with Benny Goodman, I was impressed. But when I later discovered the outstanding records he cut with the Count Basie orchestra, I realized that Mr. Five by Five (such was his nickname due to his stocky complexion) was one of the most fascinating singers ever to come out of the Swing Era. Not only did he have rhythm, but his voice was immediately recognizable, and his blues phrasing was simply irresistible. Rushing had begun his career in the late 1920s in Kansas City, singing first with Walter Page's Blue Devils and then with Bennie Moten's band, out of which the Basie organization evolved. He helped popularize the blues within a big band swing context, but he wasn't just a blues shouter—he knew how to approach a pop tune and inflect it with an unmistakable bluesy feeling.

Jimmy Rushing at Newport in 1965
(Photo: Francine Winham)

After the years he spent within the ranks of the Basie band, Rushing made some very interesting albums for Vanguard and Columbia, and by the mid 1960s, he was appearing in New York clubs, which is the period of his career captured in The Scene: Live in New York (Hightone). The group backing Rushing on these live dates is led by saxophonists Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and also includes Dave Frishberg on piano, Major Holley and John Beal on bass, and Mousey Alexander on drums. The band actually gets a chance to cut loose on two selections without Rushing ("The Red Door" and "It's Noteworthy") but the singer, who is in fine form, is the main attraction here. The repertoire features both standards ("I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me," "Baby Ain't I Good to You") and blues numbers ("Goin' to Chicago," "Good Morning Blues") that were closely associated with him during his Basie years. The sound of the recordings is excellent, and Rushing's performances are very relaxed and ooze charm and conviction. While any Rushing collection should begin with his records with Basie, this is a worthwhile snapshot of his lesser-known later years.