Pianist Duke Jordan has always been exceptional. At age 25, in 1947, he began playing and recording with the Charlie Parker Quintet, which included Miles Davis (tp), Tommy Potter (b) and Max Roach (d). As a bebop pianist, Jordan's genius was his ability to operate on three levels at once. He kept superb time on the keyboard, on ballads or hell-raisers; he had a terrific sense of space, pausing momentarily in places to let the sound settle in the ear; and he had a soulful depth and grace that was lush and sophisticated. As a result, Jordan recorded many solid albums.
Today, let's look at his first recording session as a leader in January 1954. Recording since 1945, starting with alto saxophonist Floyd "Horsecollar" Williams, Jordan quickly became an in-demand bop pianist in New York. The following year he was with trumpeter Roy Eldridge and then tenor saxophonist Allen Eager before teaming with Parker on his East Coast Dial sessions. Jordan recorded with Stan Getz in 1949 with an all-star bop octet. Then came tenor saxophonists Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt during their run on the Prestige label in 1950.
Jordan also was in the superb Stan Getz Quintet in 1952 with Jimmy Raney (g), Bill Crow (b) and Frank Isola (d), and the Getz Quartet, when Getz used Jordan, Bill and Kenny Clarke (d). By 1953, Jordan was recording with trombonist Eddie Bert on Bert's album, Kaleidoscope, with Sal Salvador (g) Clyde Lombardi (b) Mel Zelnick (d). So by the time he recorded as the leader of his own trio in 1954, Jordan had played with one championship team after the next.
The album, Duke Jordan Trio, was recorded in New York for Vogue producer Henri Renaud, who at the time was in the city recording American jazz artists for the French label. The trio consisted of Duke Jordan (p), Gene Ramey (b) and Lee Abrams (d). The 11 songs recorded were three spectacular Jordan originals—Minor Encamp (which would become a jazz standard known as Jordu), Scotch Blues and the wonderful Wait and See. Then came a series of standards with alternate takes—Embraceable You, Darn That Dream, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Just One of Those Things and Parker's Confirmation, the latter played with Jordanian intricacy that virtually reinvented the song.
If you're looking for an entry point for Duke Jordan, this is a good place to start. From here you can work backward and dig the Parker, Ammons and Sttit, and Getz sessions. As for moving forward, we'll do just that over the coming days.
Duke Jordan died in 2006 at age 84 in Copenhagen, where he'd been living since 1978.
When Bob Shad started Mainstream Records in 1964, his mission was to record what he liked. Freed from the confines of Mercury and EmArcy in the 1950s, Shad created a catalog at Mainstream that was highly diverse, from Johnny Mandel's Harper soundtrack to Big Brother & the Holding Company's first album. One of the artists he felt obliged to record was singer Alice Clark.
Not much is known about Clark or how she came to the attention of Shad in 1971. My guess is that arranger-conductor Ernie Wilkins had something to do with that discovery. Up until then, she had only recorded a few singles. Clark clearly was a church-rooted soul-gospel belter, and the songs chosen for the 1972 album, Alice Clark, were obscure but brilliantly written and shrewdly orchestrated. Someone had enormous taste in the choices.
Clark grew up in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and recorded only briefly in New York between 1968 and 1971 for a Jubilee subsidiary. According to Dean Rudland's liner notes for Alice Clark: The Complete Studio Recordings 1968-1972 (BGP Records), Clark wasn't in a good place. Billy Vera, who wrote and produced her first recordings, said "I got the impression her life wasn't that great. She... had kids and belonged to a religious order that forbade either bathing or washing hair, I don't recall exactly which..."
This rare soul album is tasteful in every way. The known personnel includes Joe Newman and Sonny Cohn (tp), Charlie Fowlkes (bs), Paul Griffin (Fender Rhodes, p), Ernie Hayes (org), Cornell Dupree and Earl T. Dunbar (g), Gordon Edwards (b), Bernard Purdie (d), Alice Clark (vcl), Ernie Wilkins (arr/cond) and Bob Shad (prod). [Gatefold photo above of Ernie Wilkins]
The songs are Jimmy Webb's I Keep It Hid, John Bromley and Petula Clark's Looking at Life, Leonard Caston's Don't Wonder Why, John Kander and Fred Ebb's Maybe This Time (From the Motion Picture "Cabaret"), Juanita Fleming's Never Did I Stop Loving You, Bobby Hebb's Charms of the Arms of Love and Don't You Care, Leon Carr's It Takes Too Long to Learn to Live Alone, Bobby Hebb's Hard Hard Promises and Earl DeRouren's Hey Girl.
While Clark's recordings resonated with the Northern Soul movement in the U.K., the album fell flat in the U.S. While Shad knew plenty about producing a great album, the market had changed by the early 1970s. Black FM radio needed album singles that stood out during "drive time" programming, and this album's songs weren't hook-driven. It was too sublime, too poetic. Given the power of Clark's voice, it's surprising she didn't come to the attention of Creed Taylor after this album came out. She would have been perfect on Creed's CTI subsidiary, Kudu.
Clark left the music business after her eponymous album fizzled, likely because she had left everything on the table. She must have believed that if the music on this album didn't connect with the market, nothing she recorded ever would. In the hands of a more commercially minded soul producer, she might have fared better. As we listen now, the music Shad recorded was extraordinary—a soul masterpiece, a gospel game-changer and an emotional document that arrives just as soul was becoming more romantic and insistent.
Clark returned to raising her family. She died of cancer in 2004, at age 57.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Alice Clark as a download here, as a CD here, on her complete studio recordings on vinyl here and in a CD compilation of her recordings here.
You'll also find the album at Spotify.
JazzWax clips:Here'sNever Did I Stop Loving You...
Bassist Gary Peacock, who died in September of 2020, was probably best known for Trio '64, his sole album in 1963 with Bill Evans, as well as his work with Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, Marc Copland and Keith Jarrett. But before Trio '64, Peacock spent several years in Los Angeles working as a sideman. On the West Coast, Peacock emerged as part of a school of conversationalist bassists who didn't just keep time but were expected to engage with a point of view.
Now, Fresh Sound has released a wise sampler of Peacock's recordings during this period. The album, The Beginnings: Gary Peacock, West Coast Years (1959-1962), features the bassist with the Carmell Jones Quartet, the Bud Shank Quartet, the Clare Fischer Trio, the Carmell Jones Quintet, the Jimmy Woods Quartet, the Don Ellis Quartet and the Bud Shank Quintet.
All of the tracks have an avant-garde edge, with Peacock driving firmly on top. During this period, Peacock became a rhythmic player with unusual bass patterns and improvised statements, at times provoking and other times supporting. All of these tracks belong to eight terrific albums, which makes this new compilation a smart starting point for experiencing Peacock's roots and playing intellect. Much of the music is ahead of its time, refusing to fit into the era's pop and songbook approach and carving out new territory for small-group jazz. On each track selected by Fresh Sound's Jordi Pujol, Peacock is playing powerfully and distinctly.
You need to hear this album to understand Peacock's approach on future leadership albums and sideman sessions. The tracks are all terrific choices.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Fresh Sound's The Beginnings: Gary Peacock, West Coast Years (1959-1962) with 24-bit remastereing here.
You'll also find Peacock with the Forrest Westbrook Quintet during this period. Read my review here. And with Carmell Jones here.
JazzWax clip:Here'sNot Yet, with Jimmy Woods (as), Dick Whittington (p), Gary Peacock (b) and Milt Turner (d)...
And here's I Love You, the album's sole standard, by the Clare Fischer Trio—with Fisher on piano, Peacock on bass and Gene Stone on drums. Fascinating what they do with it...
Bonus:Here's Shorty Rogers (fh), Gary Lefebvre (woodwinds), Lou Levy (p), Gary Peacock (b) and Larry Bunker (d) on Jazz Scene USA hosted by Oscar Brown Jr. in 1962 (special thanks to Bill Kirchner)...
And here's Joe Pass (g), unidentified piano, Gary Peacock (b) and an unidentified drummer playing Sonnymoon for Two hosted by disc-jockey Frank Evans...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and Artie Butler for my "Anatomy of a Song" column on the writing and recording of 1964's Walk On By (go here). It was great to connect with Burt again and to talk with him about his music. The last time, I was with him at his house in L.A. in 2011 for a career interview (go here). Dionne also was terrific, as always. For goodness sake, when is the Kennedy Center finally going to honor her? Such a game-changing pop singer with top hits in every decade. For me, always a thrill with Dionne. There's nothing like picking up the phone and hearing that signature voice on the other end. The last time I interviewed songwriter, musician and arranger Artie Butler was in 2015 when I wrote about the Dixie Cups' Chapel of Love. He played the concert bells.
Here are three videos of Dionne Warwick singing Burt Bacharach and Hal David hits:
Here's Dionne in Belgium singing Any Old Time of Day (1964), the original A-side to Walk On By until Murray the K stepped in...
And here's Burt, Hal David and Dionne working on I Say a Little Prayer...
Also in the WSJ, I interviewed actor Michael Sheen for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Michael played British Prime Minister Tony Blair in The Deal, The Queen and The Special Relationship. He also played David Frost in Frost/Nixon on stage and in the film. [Photo above of Michael Sheen in The Queen, courtesy of YouTube]
On Tuesday, I'll be on SiriusXM for an hour with Nik and Lori to talk about my "Anatomy of a Song" column on Walk On By. Lots of stuff that wasn't in the column as well my Hot 10. Tune in live at 9 a.m. (ET) on channel 106.
My favorite new nifty book is Eric Gibson's The Necessity of Sculpture: Selected Essays and Criticism, 1985-2019. Eric is the Arts in Review editor of The Wall Street Journal and one of the paper's arts critics. Each essay is compact and originally appeared in the WSJ and The New Criterion. Eric is intensely passionate about art, particularly sculpture, and his excitement comes though in his writing. Like those Kinder chocolate eggs that contain a prize inside, each essay features a mind-blowing revelation. Three essays in the book that come to mind are Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals: Epics in Miniature, Netherlandish Boxwood Rosary Beads: Medieval Marvels and Mark di Suvero: Playground Populist. Take the first, for example, the seals. Here's Eric on their fascinating importance:
There is a body of work that ranks with the greatest achievements of all art: Mesopotamian cylinder seals—simple utilitarian objects whose inscribed images constitute a narrative art of a power and sophistication out of all proportion to their size. They were produced between about 3500 B.C. and 500 B.C. primarily in the area we now know as Iraq. They are small stone cylinders, rarely measuring more than an inch tall and one-half inch in diameter—sometimes considerably less. An intaglio design has been cut into them, more often than not a scene of combat between men, or some fatalistic creature and animals. When rolled across soft clay, the image would appear in relief, quickly forming a repeat pattern if the seal was rolled over any length, which it usually was. They function the way rubber stamps or one's signature does today, authenticating documents and protecting commercial goods from theft. Thus, each image was, as it had to be, distinctive and unique.
Astonishing. Eric continues to marvel at how something so small was able to hold so much detail in relief. And that's how each of his essays play out—insights, illumination and a wow factor. In the case of these early works, you quickly realize that the streaming series we binge today have a history dating back thousands of years and that sculpture was one of the earliest expressions of storytelling and veneration. You'll find Eric's compact paperback here.
Greenwich Village Story. Following my Friday post on the 1963 film Greenwich Village Story, I received the following from Guy Vespoint...
Hello Marc. I want to thank you for all of your posts on JazzWax but I am particularly grateful for your making me aware of "Greenwich Village Story." Actress Tani Guthrie, also known as Tani Seitz, appeared in the show "The Nervous Set," which had a score by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman. Among the songs Tani performs on the cast album are "Ballad of the Sad Young Men” and “Night People,” which she sings with two other cast members. Because of that, I’m wondering if she introduced those songs, although over the years I seem to remember a number of other singers getting credit for introducing “Ballad of the Sad Young Men.”
Tani Guthrie was an identical twin. She and her sister, Dran, appeared in "I, the Jury," another movie I’ve never seen and shall endeavor to determine if it’s been uploaded to YouTube. As Dran Seitz, she appears on the cast album "The Happiest Girl in the World." In the late 1950’s , the sisters appeared in an unaired TV pilot entitled something like "To Paris With Love" about twin young American ladies living in Paris.
In case you’re wondering, the reason I know this is that nearly 40 years ago, I made their acquaintances thanks to one of my best friends, a poet. Tani and Dran hosted a salon they named “Poets Gathering.” While I myself am not a poet, I tagged along with my friend. In time, I would come to be made aware of some elements of their histories. At one point, “Poets Gathering” planned a retreat to Jacumba, Ca., on Mexico's border. It was during this retreat that Tani and Dran brought a 16mm film of the TV pilot. I happened to have been a film projectionist in college. When Tani and Dran found out I knew how to operate the available projector, they were elated and got me to screen the pilot for those assembled.
Speaking of the Village,here are 14 vintage images from the 1950s (go here).
CDs you should know about.
Mike Jones—All By Myself (Bandcamp). When he isn't opening for Penn & Teller in Las Vegas (with Penn Jillette on bass), jazz pianist Mike Jones is often playing clubs and recording. Given that the performing arts everywhere are on hold these days, Mike was able to record a lovely album of standards, his first solo recording in 20 years. Tracks include The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else, The Sheik Of Araby, All By Myself, I'll See You In My Dreams, It Had To Be You, Chicago, Lady Be Good, Poor Butterfly, Chinatown, My Chinatown, Back Home Again In Indiana, Lazy, Linger Awhile and After You've Gone. Go here. Click to listen to full songs. Mike at his best.
George Kahn—DreamCatcher(CD Baby). Pianist George Kahn has teamed with guitarist Pat Kelley, backed by bassist David Hughes and drummer Alex Acuna, for an album of show tunes, standards and originals. The result is a relaxed collection that hooks the ear and metaphorically puts your feet up. Tracks include I Feel Pretty, Just One of Those Things, You and the Night and the Music, Never Let Me Go, One Fine Thing, DreamCatcher, Going Baroque, Stardust, Tonight, Eva, Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight and Quarantuni Time. Go here or at Spotify.
Karen Carpenter on The Dating Game? Yes, indeed, just as the Carpenters hit with Close to You. But why did the show have to pair her with such stiffs?...
Here are the Carpenters in the studio faux recording their big hit, Burt Bacharach's Close to You...
Help Birdland in New York survive by donating to a GoFundMe page set up on the legendary club's behalf. As the performing arts continue to suffer more than most industries in the wake of the pandemic, many jazz clubs are struggling to make rent. If you ever had a great night at the club and care about owner Gianni Valenti, give what you can here.
Dave Thompson this weekend offers up Repose here...
Fan mail. This week I received the following from Pat Prosser...
Hello Marc. Hope you're doing great and staying healthy. I'm out here listening to and reading about jazz music and culture in Oberlin, Ohio. I count on your terrific blog. You lead me to the water each day. Thanks! For some reason, it occurred to me recently that I might share with you the person responsible for initially getting me interested in jazz. I've never written to express this to anyone before.
I grew up in Cleveland and went to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I worked throughout my school days there, and in that city afterward. I felt lucky to always be in range of whatever radio station Ron Cuzner was employed at as the host of "The Dark Side," an all-night jazz radio show. I was hooked. I'm very happy that many of his recorded shows are now posted on Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts. He was well-liked and became a local legend. Of course, we're talking about people that were up all night. Anyway, here's an article about Cuzner. Thanks again for all you do for all of us.
Max Roach Radio. This Sunday, January 10, WKCR-FM will host its annual "Max Roach Birthday Broadcast," featuring the drummer's music for 24 hours. You can listen from anywhere in the world on your phone, iPad or computer by going here.
A Jobim finish.Here's Walter Rodrigues Jr. playing Wave and The Girl From Ipanema using fingering in the style of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Love that final look of satisfaction...
Greenwich Village Story tells a rather stale tale by today's standards. Released in 1963, the film is loaded with cliches—an unmarried ballet dancer becomes pregnant by her wanna-be novelist boyfriend. Rather than seize an opportunity as a dancer, the female protagonist nests with the loser beau, who fails as a writer and cheats on her. And on and on. If the movie stinks, why post it? For the scenes of Greenwich Village in its folk heyday. The film was shot on location in 1961 in the Village and in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
The movie stars Robert Hogan, Melinda Cordell and Tani Guthrie. Here are some additional notes from Michael Simmons, who last week kindly reminded me of the film and sent along a link:
The coffee house scenes were shot inside The Gaslight Cafe, with cameos by John Brent (of the comedy album How To Speak Hip, with Del Close) and Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary. Future director James Frawley is the second male lead, and future Rocky director, John Avildsen, plays a beatnik painter and is the film's assistant direcor. There’s even a life model session with a funny twist, plus pot smoking, folk music in Washington Square Park and real beatniks on MacDougal Street.
Here'sGreenwich Village Story, directed by Jack O'Connell...
After witnessing yesterday's horrifying ransacking and disgraceful occupation of our nation's Capitol building, you deserve a treat. First, my apologies for the destabilizing and demoralizing actions of an unhinged mob of Americans who paralyzed our nation's government seemingly unopposed by security forces. Many in our country have succumbed to information poisoning, mental confusion and denial on top of a deadly pandemic and economic hardship. To help you ease the stress, I want to introduce you to what I listened to yesterday.
Despite owning upward of 300 bossa nova albums, I was unfamiliar with this one. I only know about it because Todd Selbert kindly sent the vinyl to me. Recorded on June 3, 1964 in São Paulo, Brazil, the album by singer Véra Brasil was originally entitled Tema do Boneco De Palha, or Ode to a Straw Puppet, and released in the U.S. by Revelation in 1975. The music and Brasil's vocals on the record are as soothing as they are beautiful.
Véra Brasil was born in São Paulo into a family of musicians. Her father was Sivan Castelo Neto, a songwriter, poet and composer. Brasil began as a composer in 1954 but her songs didn't catch on immediately. Brazilian singer Leny Eversong was first to record three of her compositions. Not until the '60s did Brasil begin performing in public. Eversong encouraged her to take singing lessons so she could record her own songs. In 1964, Brasil recorded Tema do Boneco De Palha and began touring. The album is exquisite.
Here's the personnel: Brasil (vcl, g), Francesco Celano and Silvio Oliani (tp), Jose Cunha, Jorge Toni (bassoon), Roberto de Azevedo (b), Direu Medeiros (d) and Luiz de Andrade (fl, cl, bass cl, cavaquinho, bandolim and arr). But Brasil's recording career was strangely limited. As far as I can tell, this was her only album. Which will come as a shock to you as well when you hear it, since her voice and songs are exceptional. Brighter days are ahead.
Véra Brasil died in 2012, at age 80.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Véra Brasil's Tema do Boneco De Palhahere.
On November 28, 1979, two days after recording The Paris Concert live at Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris, Bill Evans was in Barcelona with his final trio—bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. There, the trio performed for about 45 minutes at RTVE studios in the Esplugues de Llobregat section of the city. Your eyes don't deceive you. Evans wasn't playing the piano and drums. All three players wore the same sports jackets that night, and Joe was in the same color shirt as Evans and had a similar hair style and beard. It was around this time when Evans, his hands puffy from drug use, launched into a more percussive but deeply penetrating period on the keyboard as his health began to decline.
Here's the full show of the Bill Evans Trio in Barcelona, with bio material in Spanish in between the songs...
Several years ago, I had to temporarily shift a sizable chunk of JazzWax into draft mode for tech reasons. While the shift was easy to do, it was a little more difficult bringing back the posts back to live status. In fact, I'm still at it. My first order of business was restoring all of the JazzWax interviews, since those are the most in demand. But one interview that escaped me while making the switch was my chat with legendary Swedish composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg. I only realized my oversight after guitarist John Scofield emailed last week looking for it. [Photo above of Nils Lindberg]
So today I'm going to tell you again about one of the finest jazz albums of the early '60s—an album that is likely unfamiliar to you but will surely become one of your favorites. The album is Nils Lindberg's Trisection .
Sweden has a long jazz history and remains one of the oldest and most prolific jazz centers outside of the U.S. The country's relationship with jazz dates back to 1913, when its first jazz recordings were made in Stockholm—four years before our own in 1917. The song recorded there was Alexander's Ragtime Band, by the Pinets Orchestra.
Over the years, Sweden has been a major stop for touring American jazz musicians. Among the first to record in Stockholm was Louis Armstrong, with his Hot Harlem Band, during a concert in October 1933. Benny Carter was in Stockholm next in 1936, Kenny Clarke in 1938 and Duke Ellington in 1939. Bebop made its way to Sweden in 1947 with Chubby Jackson, and Dizzy Gillespie was there in 1948. James Moody recorded there with his Swedish Crowns in 1949, a session that included I'm in the Mood for Love. Quincy Jones also spent time in Sweden in the '50s.
Many Swedish jazz musicians, including baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin and pianist Jan Lundgren, are revered today by American fans who know their work. One of the finest is Nils Lindberg, who studied classical composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and is known as a composer of jazz and classical, including a style that combines jazz, Swedish folk music and classical music. [Photo above of Nils Lindberg]
His first jazz album was Sax Appeal (1960), backed by his Swedish Modern Jazz Group. His music and arranging owes a great deal to Woody Herman's reed-centric band of the late 1940s. Nils's band on the album featured Rolf Billberg (as) Harry Backlund and Allan Lundstrom (ts) Lars Gullin (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Conny Svensson (d). It's a superb swinging recording with gorgeous sax writing and piano playing by Nils.
In December 1962, Nils recorded another magnificent album called Trisection. The session included American expatriate trumpeter Idrees Sulieman. What makes this 1963 release so special is its Birth of the Cool feel and Gil Evans influences, spearheaded by beautiful, gentle reeds. The band includes Sulieman and Jan Allan (tp) Sven-Olof Walldoff (b-tp) Eje Thelin (tb) Olle Holmqvist (tu) Rolf Billberg (as) Bertil Lofdahl and Harry Backlund (ts) Erik Nilsson (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Sture Kallin (d).
Rather than continue to rave about Trisection, here's the album's first movement, Trisection I...
Quite something, isn't it? Here is my brief interview with Nils in 2013:
JazzWax: What was your major influence when writing and arranging Sax Appeal? Nils Lindberg: The songs I wrote for Sax Appeal were inspired by the feeling in Swedish folk tunes. For example, the tune Curbits was built on the chords of just such a song. My arrangements, however, were inspired by Woody Herman´s recording of Four Brothers. I liked the records made by Herman´s Second Herd very much.
JW: Did you listen to jazz radio in Sweden when you were young? NL: Oh, yes. I first heard American jazz after 1945 when the American Forces Radio started broadcasting from Germany. Many Swedish jazz musicians also listened to the network. During World War II, no U.S. jazz records had reached Sweden, so when the war was over we were very grateful and excited to listen on the radio and buy and listen to American jazz records.
JW: Which American records and arrangers most influenced you leading up to Trisection? NL: Gil Evans and his [Birth of the Cool] recordings with Miles Davis.
JW: Where did you write the music for Trisection? NL: After working very hard as a pianist in dance bands in Stockholm, I went up north in 1961 to Dalarna, Sweden, where my parents’ home is located and where I was brought up. Dalarna has a beautiful landscape and a strong folklore tradition. I composed the music there during the summer of that year.
JW: Did you have a strong sense of what you wanted to write? NL: I had no vision whatsoever of what Trisection should be or sound like. I just wrote this suite as I felt it. Of course, the traditional fiddlers in Dalarna and my interest in jazz were strong inspirations. [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden]
JW: Given your exceptional command of jazz orchestration, why did you not travel to the U.S. to work, the way musicians like Lalo Schifrin and Michel Legrand did, in the movies and TV? NL: I had a family and three sons, so I had to work here in Sweden. I also had no opportunity to go to the U.S. No one asked. Through vocalist Alice Babs, Duke Ellington had listened to my music and asked me to write for his band. He also recorded my Far Away Star with Alice Babs. [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden]
JW: Duke Ellington toured Scandinavia quite a bit. NL: During Duke's Scandinavian tour in 1973, I played piano in all concerts with his band. After the tour he asked me to work with him in the U.S., but he died some months after his offer, so who knows what might have happened. Since then, I have played many concerts in the U.S., mainly at colleges and universities.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Sax Appeal and Trisection combined on one CD here.
Other Lindberg albums to check out are Third Saxes Galorehere, and Saxes Galore and Brass Galorehere. You'll also find these at Spotify.
JazzWax clip: Here's Curbits from Nils Lindberg's Sax Appeal...
Each year, right after the holidays, I love listening to June Christy's 1950s vocal recordings for Capitol. It's the hip dryness of her voice, the beaming sunshine of her singing style and cool phrasing that knock me out. It's all very California. Couple this with Pete Rugolo's eclectic arrangements and the Hollywood tigers assembled for the recording sessions and you have the perfect music to get your head back into a work groove. Yesterday, I spent the day listening to Christy's Fair and Warmer!
Recorded in January 1957, the album was captured over three sessions. Backing Christy on Imagination, The Best Thing for You Is Me, It's Always You and When Sunny Gets Blue, Ive Never Been in Love Before, I Know Why, Let There Be Love,No More, Beware My Heart, I Want to Be Happy, Better Luck Next Time and Irresistible You were Don Fagerquist (tp), Frank Rosolino (tb), Vince DeRosa (fhr), Clarence Karella (tu), Bud Shank (fl,as), Bob Cooper (ts), Dave Pell (bar), Larry Bunker (vib), Ben Aronov (p) Howard Roberts (g) Red Mitchell (b) Shelly Manne (d), unknown strings and Pete Rugolo (arr,cond).
The consistent personnel says something about this date, Christy's reputation and regard for Rugolo's (above) leadership. Though the album was recorded on January 3, 15 and 21, Rugolo was able to book the same musicians for all three dates without subbing out a single spot. Quite remarkable given how busy most of these musicians were with advance-bookings on album and movie sessions.
On each song, Christy does something interesting with the melody and harmony, whether it's the unusual notes she hits or how she sings before and after the beat. Even though a bunch of the songs may be familiar to you, Rugolo and Christy come up with new approaches that make the material fascinating and compelling. I can't recall which of my JazzWax interviews touched on Christy's non-Kenton leadership sessions. The musician told me he ran into the singer in the Capitol parking lot on a break and she confessed she was a nervous wreck. The musician was in disbelief. How could Christy, a sturdy pro, be out of sorts over a studio session. But there you have it. Most of the battle with nerves comes before you go on. Then some magical force in your brain takes over and you're off to the races. What better way to start the year than with June Christy in your head. [Photo above of June Christy, with Pete Rulogo in the background with the bat, by William P. Gottlieb in 1948]
June Christy died in 1990, Pete Rugolo died in 2011.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find June Christy's Fair and Warmer!here.
It's also at Spotify.
JazzWax clips:Here'sBetter Luck Next Time, with muted trumpet solos by Don Fagerquist...
Here'sI've Never Been in Love Before, with Bud Shank's flute and Bob Cooper's tenor sax...
A bit of trivia: The original version of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's I Know Why had its debut in Sun Valley Serenade (1941). The two actors singing along to Glenn Miller playing Bill Finegan's arrangement of the song in the film are Lynn Bari and John Payne (at the piano). While Payne recorded his own chorus, studio singer Pat Friday overdubbed Bari's vocal. Here it is...
Priceless:Here's Christy singing I Want to Be Happy from Fair and Warmer! in 57. Dig the nifty opener!...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed former Doors drummer John Densmore (far right, above) for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). The bossa nova beat that John plays on Light My Fire would not have existed if not for his orthodontist. Because he wore braces growing up, John could not play a reed instrument or a horn in the school band. So he took up the drums. One thing led to another and he wound up in one of the most influential album-rock bands of the late-1960s. John's latest book is The Seekers: Meetings With Remarkable Musicians (and Other Artists).
CD you should know about. Today (Lavana) by Louise Alexandra. The last album singer Rebecca Parris produced before she passed in 2018 was this one for singer-songwriter Louise Alexandra. Anyone who was friendly with Rebecca or heard her sing live or has her albums knows how exquisite her taste was. Her musical decisions on this album, recorded between 2015 and 2018, resulted in a beautiful recording by Louise. I love her voice. Louise's backing band here featured Paul McWilliams and Doug Hammer on piano, Fernando Huergo on bass; Martin Vazquez on drums and percussion; Mike Turk on harmonica; and Bill Vint on saxes and flute. Louise is joined on vocals by Miriam Waks on #1 and 11, Mae Van Aarsen on #13 and backing vocalists Debbie Lane and Sue Sheriff on #10. Louise wrote all of the songs except #3, 6, 9, 11 and 13, and she co-wrote #5 with Miriam Waks. Give a listen. Her voice is a wonderful way to kick off the new year. Go here.
PS: Louise is from the Netherlands and, when she isn't singing, she's a research scientist with a PhD in cancer biology. For more on Louise, go here.
And for more on Louise's day job, here she is singing Desafinado with a new set of lyrics...
JazzWax Film Festival. This weekend marks the end of the second annual JazzWax Film Festival. I hope you enjoyed my movie choices. A special thanks to my friends in Europe, who are locked down due to the virus and were especially appreciative. Stay safe. We love you here and can't wait to get back over there to visit. To close the festival, here's one of my favorite romantic films, Un Homme et Une Femme (A Man and a Woman) (1966).
Shot in color and black and white, the film is perfect in every way, from Claude Lelouch's (above) direction to star performances by Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and the original score by Francis Lai. If that wasnt enough, there's even a few squareback Ford Mustangs, a white Ford GT40, a white Ford Formula car, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monte Carlo Rally.
The film is super rare and hard to find streaming or on DVD in the U.S. So enjoy the film while it remains up online. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967, and Lelouch won the 1966 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or. In addition, the film won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film and Aimée won a Golden Globe as well. I can watch A Man and a Woman over and over. For me, it's always new and remarkable. [Photo above of Anouk Aimée]
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's best blog award.
