8 posts tagged “jazz note”
“You know, I want you to make a record with me,
And I’m going to write a number specially for you.”
Duke
Ellington
We’ve all been there. We’ve run into an old friend we haven’t seen in a while. We remember. We catch up. And before we part, we promise to get together soon.
When Duke Ellington ran into
Colman Hawkins and said the above quote, I don’t think either of them thought
it would take twenty years to put an album together. It did but they never forget the date.
With both of their careers firmly established, Ellington as a big band leader and Hawkins as the first great tenor saxophonist, they took a brief moment from their busy schedules to sit down at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio on August 18, 1962.
Yes, they only had one day and it was an afternoon session. There would be no need for practice. Ellington brought his regulars and Hawkins would only need to a couple songs under his belt to get to speed.
True to his word Ellington wrote a song for Hawkins called “Self Portrait of the Bean”, which is Hawkins' nickname. But my favorite song on the album is “Limbo Jazz”, a spry calypso number conceived midway through the session, like Ellington threw on an apron and put together a little number with his bassist and drummer, adding a few horns here and there and asking his guest to add the finishing touches.
Hawkins returned the favor by improvising a wonderful ending solo, his expressive sound as natural as breathing and as beautiful as a warm ocean breeze.
When you listen, take note of the
drummer, Sam Woodyard, singing along, completely unaware that not only was
their improv being recorded it would also end up as the first song on the
album.
- Dave
“Let those other fellows play sixty-thousand notes.
You just play with three with tone.
That makes the difference.”
Russell
“Pops” Smith
with advice to a young Benny Webster
What I like about jazz is how multi-dimensional it can be. From Dixieland, Big Band to a small trio playing in a hotel lounge, jazz can stir a swell of emotions from wooing a lover to putting a spring in your step. It can even make you want to kick back after a long day and relax.
When I listen to this Columbia Jazz Masterpiece, “Ben & Sweets” it sounds like two guys taking the time to reflect and for good reason. By the time Ben Webster and Harry “Sweets” Edison met up in New York in 1962 they had a lot to talk about. Webster had already made his mark on lead saxophone in the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Edison already spent twelve years as the trumpet soloist with Count Basie. In the 30’s and 40’s there were no bigger big bands or preeminent soloist.
But the late 40’s and 50’s were not kind to Big Band Swing. What’s surprising, though, is how constant these two remained when the paradigm shifted from Be-Bop to Hard-Bop to West Coast Cool. The decades did not matter. To Webster and Edison, their music was timeless and they kept busy playing by arranging and leading or backing vocalists. By the time they laid down these tracks, both men were established enough to no longer feel a need to impress. Instead, all they wanted to do was play beautiful music.
Unlike most albums where I like to cherry pick, I love every track. Each man gets a chance at his own extended solo with a Gershwin tune. (Webster with “How Long is this Going on?” and Edison with “Embraceable You.”) And when I listen to my favorite, “Kitty”, I can’t help picture Webster and Edison on a front porch in the cool of the evening, laughing, joshing and most of all reminiscing. “Do you remember the time…?”
Dave
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Scarface, Fat Tony, Flavor Flav and Ghost Face Killah, when it comes to making a name for yourself, it doesn’t hurt to start with a nickname. For you know you have truly arrived when people don’t even know your real name. Take Sting, Prince and a guy who goes by The Edge. And when it comes to jazz royalty, does anybody know Duke Ellington as Edward or Count Basie as good, old William? Probably as many who know Cannonball Adderley’s first name.
Although Julian was born on September 15th 1928 in Tampa Florida, musically speaking he was given birth and inspired in New York City by the great Charlie “Bird” Parker. But before that all happened he picked up a nickname; not because his alto sax sounded like incoming artillery. In fact, Cannonball is a spin-off of another childhood nickname “Cannibal”, given for his healthy appetite, which I have read he went in with gusto, which can also best describe the way he plays his horn.
Take a listen to the fifth song on his “Cannonball Takes Charge” album. Immediately, “Barefoot Sunday Blues” takes you there. It even sounds like he is walking barefoot while playing his Sunday Blues, which aren’t the Blues at all. Monday, maybe, but not Sunday. Carefree, soulful and swinging, what best describes this song is joyful. Cannonball is one of the few instrumentalists I can readily identify when hearing one of his songs. His musical roots are grounded in gospel and you can hear the notes springing to life in all of his solos. And that’s what this album is: Straight ahead Cannonball. No other horns getting in the way; just Cannonball playing with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers and Percy Heath taking turns on the bass and Jimmy Cobb and Albert “Tootie” Heath passing back and forth the drums. Other than that there’s Cannonball taking charge. Dang Right!
Contrary to a popular rock ‘n roll belief, some musicians are better off not burning out quickly or fading away. Like a fine whiskey or an endearing ballad, jazz musician only get better with time. Sure, their technical skills may diminish a little, but there is something more worldly and expressive that manifests in musicians with more than a few decades notched into their instruments. At least that’s what I saw in concert with:
- Jon Lee Hooker with a voice sounding like the beginning of time, seated and playing his guitar through an ongoing standing ovation.
- Ruben Gonzalez from the Buena Vista Social Club, accepting the warm, extended hands as an assistant gently leaned his frail body into the front row during the second encore.
- Jimmy Heath setting down his saxophone to rest against the piano; every once in a while leaning into the microphone to scat out “Johnnie Walker… Black Label.” (I’m not sure what he meant, but he sure sounded damn cool.)
Then there’s Sonny Rollins, the last of the lions, the man who played with everybody and established himself as the best saxophone player among them, the last link to the Golden Era still stretching a career into the present.
I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down for one of his concerts a couple years back. He already canceled the show once due to illness. But no matter. Even though it was Halloween, the city of Minneapolis named it Sonny Rollins Day. And when he came on stage to accept the certificate, there was a hitch to his step. He didn’t look much like a lion. He even looked a little out of place with the rest of the band whose combined ages probably didn’t add up to his 75. So when Sonny set down the plaque and picked up his horn, I was somewhat prepared for a comfortable evening with well-known classics. What I got right at the beginning was the title song to his new album, “Sonny Please,” indicating to me, indicating to the audience, indicating to sands of time that even though his career was nearing the dying light, he had no intention of going quietly.
“Johnnie Walker… Black Label.”
|
|
Apologies for this late Jazzcast edition, it was recorded five days
ago.
Out of a combination of laziness and busyness (is this a word?), I
haven't had the chance to edit the podcast until now.
You can always subscribe to us on weheartmusic.mypodcast.com and you'll automatically download the latest podcast if we post something new. I think lately it might be a monthly upload (although I would like to see it done weekly or bi-weekly...).
What I want on the podcast is to have a dialogue with another person. We can do this via your telephone or through Skype.
If you're curious, I'm using a free open source audio editor called Audacity. It's an awesome recording device and editor.
TOPIC OF DISCUSSION
I have shot and recorded W♥M Video #4, but I will have to edit it later.
PS, in celebration of Jazzcast #2, I am including another jazz artist name Jarez, a saxophone player from Los Angeles, California. You can find more information about him on jarezmusic.com. Stay tuned for a full article and review later on W♥M.
12/09/2007 22:55:02
vu
my♥posts
weheartmusic.mypodcast.com
For me the essence of a big band is in the celebration
of the collective by a group of highly individual personalities.
Dave Holland
One of the advantages working with 12-16 musicians is the conductor’s ability to expand his palette. Without uttering one word a big band can create a vivid scene rich in color and bustling with motion. For example take Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia.” Or since we are moving into the season, listen to Dave Holland’s “First Snow” from his 2002 EMC release “What Goes Around.”
If you live in the Northern part of the world like Vu and I do here in Minnesota, then you know how perfectly the song captures how quiet it can get, how beautiful it is and how sad it seems as the soloist evoke their own nuanced emotions:
- Alex Sipiagin on flugelhorn with a wisp of regret seeing the falling leaves now replaced.
- Andrew Hayward on trombone with a resigned shrug, already layering.
- Mark Gross on alto sax with no intention of going quietly, even crying
mid-solo like a man with no gloves trying to get into a frozen car.
By chance I heard this song in my car, coming home after a long hard day. And as I entered the final bend driving around Lake of the Isles, there they were: flakes, sparse and anemic, like listless albino fireflies floating in the thin air.
If you are a lover of music, there are times in your life when a song slips past the words and melody and becomes something more. Suddenly, there is no longer outside clamor or inside thought. The past no longer matters and the future can wait because at the moment there’s this song and it’s taking over as the first snow of the season dances past your dusty windshield.
JAZZ NOTE # 2 – PLAY A SHOWTUNE
written by Dave
|
|
The best way an artist can grab the attention of an ever-elusive audience is to take something tried and true and turn it on its head. I’m talking about reinterpretation. When it comes to jazz, there is no better way to ease a new listener into a new sound than to play a familiar tune, especially when song comes from the Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical, “Oklahoma” and Ray Charles is the one singing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the 2006 Concord release, “Ray Sings Basie Swings.”
What I like most about this cover is that it doesn’t remotely sound like morning. I don’t think the word even exists in the jazz lexicon. Most jazz musicians don’t even get out of bed before noon. So when Charles steps into Count Basie’s thick, crisp harmony sounding like a stiff belt of whiskey, he doesn’t lope like a man waking up. Instead, you hear that growl in his voice and you can see the grin growing for he is a man who is happy that the sun is finally going down.
The time of day isn’t the only thing mixed-up in this song. Take a full listen and see if you can determine if Charles is singing with a live band. At the time he was. But when these master tapes were found after his death, the only parts that were salvageable were his vocals. Count Basie and his orchestra were not properly miked during the concert, but not problem. Bill Hughes who now steers the venerable, still-playing Count Basie Orchestra was available to lay down the new tracks.
Some jazz purist may balk at the technology that bridges musicians playing in different decades. But if that technology allows me to visualize Ray Charles wearing a cowboy hat on top of a horse jazzing up an otherwise “oh hum” song, then I, too, have a wide grin just to hear one more time Ray Charles growl.
JAZZ
NOTE # 1 – MAKE IT CATCHY
written by Dave
As post-war Bebop began to wane into the cold war era, a group of jazz musicians sought to reconnect with their audience. Hard Bop, West Coast Cool, wherever the name, the songs usually stated a quick, catchy theme, letting the players take it from there. A few classics from this time are Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder”, Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” and this gem from Miles Davis, “Milestone” from the same-name 1958 Columbia record.
What I like most about this piece is how the hierarchy of the jazz combo is turned around. Usually, it’s the headliner that takes the lead and sets the tone. You would think in a song with “Miles” in the name that Davis would step up to the mic with his muted horn. Instead it’s his sideman on tenor sax, John Coltrane, grabbing the first solo like a quarter-horse out of the gate, sounding like he wants to completely break from the pack, ripping up and down the scales with a buoyant, joyous ease.
“Too many notes,” Davis would constantly chide his young band mate. Coltrane is definitely an interesting contrast to Davis’ subtle, understated tone. Just listen to the first two solos: one playing the edge, almost willingly losing control; the other with no need to impress, a consummate professional taking the smoothest of rides. Also, make note of the slightly awkward transition between the two solos. It almost sounds like Davis tapped Coltrane on the shoulder with a “That’s enough.”
My Groups
-
Social Justice Updated: 2 minutes ago
-
We♥Music (host) Updated: 3 minutes ago
-
Chicago Updated: 43 minutes ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
