JazzWax

Lamont Lament: London w/ Love

Back in April, I posted about Duncan Lamont, a wonderful British tenor saxophonist who also was an elegant and prolific songwriter. He composed a song a day well into his 80s, and a majority of them were beautifully crafted. His best known is probably Pretty People, which now is a standard and has been recorded by dozens of vocalists. Singers Nancy Marano and Frank Holder both recorded tribute albums to Lamont. Now we can add another.

British vocalists Esther Bennett (above), Sarah Moule and Daniela Clynes have just released a five-song EP entitled The Songs of Duncan Lamont. The tracks were recorded a few years ago, when Lamont was still with us and played behind two of the singers on four songs.

As Esther notes, "We originally intended for this to be a full album with three tracks from each of us and the group. Sarah and I each recorded three but with the arrival of the Covid-19 virus, recording studios closed and, unfortunately, Daniela was unable to record hers."

The songs are I Told You So, Pretty People, Stark Reality, There Ain't Nothin' Like the Blues and A Great Day in Harlem. [Photo above of Daniela Clynes]

Here's the personnel on each song:

I Told You So and Stark Reality — Sarah Moule (vcl), Simon Wallace (p) and Duncan Lamont (ts). Recorded on October 17, 2017.

Pretty People and There Ain't Nothin' Like the Blues — Esther Bennett (vcls), John Crawford (p), Simon Little (b), Mark Fletcher (d) and Duncan Lamont (ts). Recorded in November 2018.

A Great Day in Harlem — Esther Bennett, Sarah Moule and Daniela Clynes (vcls), Simon Wallace (p) and
Duncan Lamont Jr. (ts). Recorded in November 2019.

Oh to be in London listening to this music live. One day. Sigh. [Photo above of Duncan Lamont Jr., left and Duncan Lamont]

Duncan Lamont died in 2019.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Songs of Duncan Lamont here and here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Sarah Moule (vcl), Simon Wallace (p) and Duncan Lamont (ts) recording Lamont's Stark Reality, with an introduction by the composer...

And here's Esther Bennett singing There Ain't Nothin' Like the Blues, with Duncan Lamont Jr. (ts), Terence Collie (p) and Paul Michael (b) at the Bulls Head in Barnes, London, last October. 

Groovy Bands Make the Scene

The bohemian thrift-shop fashion of hippies photographed in San Francisco during the Summer of Love in 1967 won over the country's youth culture by year's end. Then came the colorful satin Nehru outfits of the Beatles in India in the spring of '68. The look and mainstreaming of psychedelia had a strange effect on adults in '69 and beyond.

That year, many grownups decided it was time to make the scene. Why should kids have all the fun? White bell-bottoms flew off store racks as did paisley shirts, Frye boots and neck scarves for men. Tinted aviator sunglasses were added as hair and sideburns went long.

Big-band leaders popular 25 years earlier also took notice and made some changes as they struggled to remain relevant. Here are five videos of top big bands in the late 1960s and '70s and how they changed their looks and locks to stay with it:

Here's a groovy Woody Herman in Swinging London in 1969...

Here's Buddy Rich in 1970 and band uniforms straight out of Robin Hood...

Here's Maynard Ferguson in the 1970s with Dinah Shore...

Here's a leisure-suited Stan Kenton in 1977 with matching band members...

And here's Duke Ellington in 1970 in a Yellow Submarine groove...

Elmo Hope and Joe Morris

Bebop's fast tempo and complex rhythms were embraced by modern-jazz fans when the jazz style emerged in the mid-1940s. But bop also provided jump blues with an opening. Bebop was spectacular and electrifying, but it wasn't for dancing. It was mostly for sitting and listening. As a result, jump blues, with its horn-driven dance beat made major inroads in Black neighborhoods and in the record market in general. By 1949, R&B was so popular that Billboard started an official R&B chart. Hundreds of R&B artists on small independent labels began having major hits. Jazz labels such as Blue Note took notice. [Photo above, of Blue Note founders Alfred Lion, left, and Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images]

During the late 1940s, Blue Note had begun to feature modern jazz artists such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. But to remain in business, Blue Note founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff also needed to remain competitive. By 1952, they began recording jazz groups fronted by two and four horn players who were backed by a stronger, consistent beat. The music eventually became known as hard bop. Blue Note called this jazz-R&B fusion series New Faces, New Sounds.

Among the earliest 10-inch hard bop/R&B recordings were Blue Note's Lou Donaldson Quintet (1952), Lou Donaldson/Clifford Brown Quintet (1952) and Horace Silver Quintet with Lou Donaldson (1953).

What's interesting about the artists who pioneered hard bop is that many had came up through R&B. For example, Lou Donaldson had begun recording with Charlie Singleton, Blue Mitchell started with Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams, and Clifford Brown first recorded with Chris Powell and the Five Blue Flames. Many jazz musicians who recorded for other labels started out the same way. As noted in my post yesterday, Elmo Hope began in the Joe Morris Orchestra. The same goes for Johnny Griffin, Percy Heath and Philly Joe Jones.

Morris was a jazz trumpeter who started in Lionel Hampton's band in the 1940s as a player and arranger, and recorded with both jazz and blues players. In 1946, he left Hampton's band to form his own orchestra, which leaned heavily on the blues with a beat. In 1949, he had top R&B hits, including Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, with Wynonie Harris; Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere; and Don't Take Your Love Away From Me. What they all had in common was Hope on piano.

What's fascinating is that as horn-centric hard-bop groups became R&B flavored, R&B groups became more jazzy. The cross-pollination is unmistakable. Morris is a prime example of a crossover artist who played jazz in a jump-blues band only to leave and form an R&B band that became jazzier over time. Many of these R&B bands swished back and forth between genres, with jazz influencing the blues and blues artists influencing jazz. Nothing in post-war music is pure, especially jazz.

Joe Morris died in 1958 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 36.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find collections of Joe Morris here and here.

JazzWax clips: Here are clips of the Joe Morris Orchestra with Elmo Hope on piano:

Here's Lowdown Baby (1949), with Morris on trumpet and vocal...

Here's Jump Everybody Jump (1951), with Jimmy "Baby Face" Lewis on vocal...

Here's That's What Makes My Baby Fat (1952), with the great Faye Adams on vocal...

And here's Midnight Grinder (1951)...