Brilliant Corners

A Duplex Mystery Trombone Show

2013-05-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

The Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour with Steve Provizer 05/16/2013 06:00PM to 07:00PM

Listen here.

Miff Mole "Sugar Foot Strut"(1927) on Columbia

Jack Teagarden "Shine" (1940) on Hot Record Society

Glenn Miller "Swanee Shuffle" (1929) on Columbia

Jack Teagarden "Pitchin" (1940) on Commodore

Red Allen "Struttin w. Some Barbq" from "At Newport" (1957) on Verve

Bennie Green "Euphoria"(1948) on Decca

Oscan Pettiford "Rhumblues" from "Sextet" (Jazz, 1954) on Vogue

Matthew Gee solos on King Pleasure's "Don't you Worry About Me" from "Golden Days" (Jazz, 1960) on Hifi Jazz

Curtis Fuller "Rock and Troll"(1957) on Prestige

Bob Brookmeyer "I Believe in You" (Single, Jazz, 1960) on Verve

Claudio Roditi "Estamos Ahi" from "Live at Keystone Korner" (Jazz, 1983) on Cbs (US)

Roswell Rudd "Pannonica" (1965) Video

Phil Wilson "Let's Fall in Love" from "Accentuate The Positive" (1995) on Seaside

Miles, Bird, Armstrong Simulacrum Kits

2013-05-03T16:34:00.001-04:00

The marketing orgy at Brilliant Corners Merch, Inc. marches on!

Inspired by the Thelonius Monk Round Midnight watch, we provided SimulacrumKits@ for Louis Armstrong and Charley Parker (see below). Once more, we have forged an unholy metaheuristic liaison, this time with a coven of disaffected Tampa Bay cheerleaders and created The Deluxe Miles Davis Simulacrum Kit. As with all our kits, it allows you to really "get next" this greatest of jazz improvisers. It includes:

1. Discarded Harmon mute stems (8)
2. Alimony check receipts (too many to count)
3. Harem pants (assorted colors)
4. Two roaches from Ferrari 275 ashtray (Davis ownership certified by Price Waterhouse)
5. 1944 Julliard Conservatory of Music freshman beanie
6. 1954 mash note from Bob Weinstock
7. Kind of Blue limited edition totebag

If the Davis Estate lawyers come a-knockin', we're readin to start rockin'!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last summer, inspired by the alliance between Sony and the Miles Davis estate which offered a mouthpiece replica, t-shirts and other fascinating items, we created our own Louis Armstrong Simulacrum Kit. And, we couldn't keep 'em in stock!

Always eager to cater to the whims of the insatiable jazz consumer, we have forged a metaheuristic liaison with a clutch of Ukranian businessmen and created The Deluxe Charlie Parker Simulacrum Kit. It includes:

A dental x-ray showing Bird's "upper partials."
A yardbird wing from 1941, preserved in formaldehyde and the wheel from the band bus that probably crushed it.
A bottle of Gordon's gin salvaged from the wreckage of the old Birdland, with a letter of provenance from Willy's Liquor Store on 44th St.
An early brochure from the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce
A box of Dean Benedetti out-takes (so unlistenable that even Ross Russell wouldn't release them, but still...)
One oboe reed with a imbedded Mitch Miller moustache hair.

And, for the first 20 buyers, we will throw in shards from the cymbal thrown by Jo Jones in the infamous jam session incident (verification pending).

So act now. Our 'operators' are standing by.

And, as we always say, "it's not re-animation, but it's pretty damn close."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some have castigated the recent alliance between Sony and the Miles Davis estate which offers "A mouthpiece replica of exactly the 'Gustat' Heim 2 model used by Davis especially created by Kanstul," t-shirts and other fascinating items. They even throw in 43 cd's. In fact, those corporate giants don't go nearly far enough in offering a package that can truly bring fans closer to their favorite artists. We have therefore forged a metaheuristic liaison with several Baltic-area businessmen and are delighted to offer the Deluxe Louis Armstrong Simulacrum Kit, composed of:

A copy of the gun Armstrong shot off to get sent to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys.
A facsimile of the original sisal belt Armstrong used to hold up his pants while delivering coal.
A lump of coal.
Two half-used packages of Swiss Kriss.
A set of 10 designer "do-rags" created in honor of Satchmo's 100th anniversary.
An "I Hate Bebop" pin, allegedly worn by Armstrong at an Elks Club meeting in Sept. 1952.
A glassene envelope containing a half ounce of muggles that Armstrong forgot he even had.

Act today and we will throw in a re-engineered recording of Armstrong's solos with the King Oliver band, with the rest of that rickety group stripped off and replaced by the same excellent studio musicians Clint Eastwood used to replace Potter, Roach and Haig in the movie "Bird." Act now. Our 'operators' are standing by. It's not re-animation, but it's pretty damn close.

A Salute to Musicians in the Community

2013-04-22T17:50:00.001-04:00

As everyone knows, this was a dismal week here in Boston. The denouement could have been much worse, and we should be grateful for that, but the reverberations will continue for a long time. Bostonians are putting up a brave front, but something like this can't help but linger in our collective psyche.

There are also ways to rebound from an event like this-lingering tete a tetes over tea or whiskey, bedroom escapades, bowling a couple of strings... Or my favorite: playing or listening to music in the street.

We had already planned as a band to play on Saturday and we walked onto what was an odd stage, in its way. People had been shut in their houses-under siege, really-for several days. There was still a skittish quality to people's attention. Traffic helicopters drew more than the usual casual glances. Unexpected sudden movements startled more. But, after we finished, we heard how much people had gotten from our music and from our rough, spontaneous choreography and I'm confident that we had helped replenish a vital force that had been drained out of our city.

So too does the music of musicians who go into the streets, the parks, the projects, the nursing homes, the schools-anywhere their communities can access what they have to share. Your work is incredibly important and I dedicate this post to you.

Jazz and hip comedy. April 11 Radio show

2013-04-11T15:18:00.002-04:00

"What, me? Worry. Jazz and hip comedy." http://bit.ly/BYBWq 6-7 PM WZBC 90.3 FM, stream: wzbc.org
Featuring Lenny Bruce, Nichols and May, Shelley Berman.

My apologies for not posting the audio file. It was recorded with distortion. Ugh. Here's the playlist:

The Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour (Specialty) with Steve Provizer 04/11/2013 06:00PM to 07:00PM

Clifford Brown “Tiny Capers”

Bob Newhart “Abe Lincoln” from The Button Down Mind Of

Jack Sheldon “Contour”

Lord Buckley “The Train”
Lambert Hendricks and Ross “Charleston Alley”

Mike Nichols And Elaine May “Telephone” from An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May

Randy Weston “Lifetime”

Lenny Bruce “How to Relax Your Colored Friends at Parties”

Sonny Rollins "Rockabye Your Baby"

Shelley Berman “Woman Hanging From a Ledge”

George Carlin “Modern Man”

Betty Carter “Frenesi”

That Damned Armstrong Quote

2013-04-09T12:03:00.000-04:00

When asked 'what is jazz?' Louis Armstrong said; “If you have to ask, then you'll never know."

This thing shows up all the time-on websites, tweets, facebook. It shows how abysmal and embattled the state of jazz is that people have to self-aggrandize by declaring: “Look at me. I get it. I’m hip. If you don’t get it, hang your aesthetic tail between your legs and get lost.”

Armstrong probably said it. Why not? He said a lot of things. The point is, this quote is as unrepresentative of Pops as any quote you could possibly find. His life was about reaching out; about achieving an emotional connection with as many people as possible. He didn’t separate himself from the unhip. He drew them into his energy.

People, do you really have to use this music as some kind of emotional crutch, like teenagers arguing over their, like, favorite pop star? If you care that new people come into the fold, look at it this way: Non-jazz people are a lot more likely to be drawn to this music if they don't think the people who love it and support it are snotty jerks.

The Roots of Scat

2013-03-22T14:48:00.000-04:00

Here is the file of my program of March 21, 2013 that explored the roots of scat singing which, according to no less an authority that Jelly Roll Morton, goes back to the turn of the century.

Here's the Playlist. I guarantee there are people on this playlist that you have never heard.

Lost New Orleans

2013-03-16T12:01:00.001-04:00

As Jazzfest approaches, time to trot out the fruits of my research and reveal some of the unknown, yet formative people and places in Crescent City Jazz history:

Musicians

One-Nostril Clyde

Toothpick Willie

Joseph 'Vaseline' Brunelle

Clyde 'Ofal' Pivnik

L'il Chicklets

Big Sluice

Leroy 'Creampie' Shavely

Melatonin Slim

Rufus 'Cutacle' Scaline

Buzz The Flea

Girdle and Griddlecakes Duffy(Siamese twins)

Oleander 'Sniffles' Zampa

Two-Crack Max Figgis

Langdon 'Crabcakes' Beaudoin

Joints

Sweetie Pie's Monodrome

Mamie's Mantis Hideaway

Queen Lillie's Nectar trap

Pookie's Natural Foods

Betty's Both-Ways Cabaret

Rita's Donuts and Crullers

Musical Organizations

Krispy Taylor's Trudgers

Juan San Juan and His Coffin Twirlers

Harry Ruby and the Minyon-aires

Clyde Baleen and the Super Sieve Six

The South Rampart St. Rhythm Manglers

Ollie's Watchfob Handlers

Louis The Greek's Menthol Stompers

Colonel Butt's Aftertaste Ragtime Orchestra

Ben Bichette's Trough Scrapers

Jazz Blogs; whither.

2013-03-04T13:35:00.000-05:00

Some jazz blogs are straight ahead educational: "Download transcribed solos by Brownie, K.D. Miles, etc." God bless these people.

Most jazz blogs do the work of 'exposing' the music-"The Fearless Fosdyke Four will be at the Bluze and Brew Tavern/Festival/Restaurant this weekend. Don't miss it." Or: "You'll want to check out the FFF's latest CD release on the Gasoid label, available at Amazon/ Walmart/CD Baby/iTunes..." It works better if they post audio or video of the group in question.

Similar blogs, but with more critique, give you a blow by blow of concerts or cd's. These are almost always self-selecting for material the reviewer likes, so seldom is heard a discouraging word. This is often the home of The Top Ten List (see my other post on this menace).

Then, there are interview-oriented sites: "When last heard of, 33 years ago, Desmond LaBrea was on the road with the Jules Verne Aquanauts. We discovered him making baignets in Paduka and asked him why he left the world of riffing for the world of sifting..."

In the blogs above, there is often room for exploring jazz esoterica, i.e.: How many jazz groups have been named after lesser tributaries of the Snake River? I love that stuff.

Then, there are jazz blogs that are more 'meta.' They ask questions and may suggest solutions: "What's up with jazz? Where is the audience? Where's the money going?" "Let's do a Jazz IPO." It is in this arena that the rough-and-tumble lurking in the hearts of jazz people sometimes breaks out. I find the level of emotional engagement here seductive and enjoy this arena. This is where we get closest to experiencing personal agendas, but mostly, the emotion remains subtext, and infuses formal discussions on the redistribution of money, etc...

I have had a long musical life, marked with some pleasure, some pain and, at this point, a feeling of having read the same newspaper headlines over and over. I think this experience helps me sniff out magical thinking. Others see me as cynic. Both views are correct. We're all subject to the vagaries of age, temperament, career success, sex life-It's the human thing and, to the extent that the jazz blog world reflects this ungodly mess, I say it is better for it.

Some say the old battle between the Beboppers and the Moldy Figs was bad for jazz. Don't know. I think it was a reflection of the emotional importance that the music once had in many people's lives. Most homicide victims fall to the hand of someone they love, or once loved. By the same token, you're probably more likely to jump into swirling currents for the adored one. I'm not sure how many jazz bloggers I'd take the plunge for, but that's another story.

Mute-a-bility (Pt.3) by Steve Provizer

2013-02-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

Mute regrets, I've had a few. Like, Why did the great Roy Eldridge start using a harmon mute?

Roy's tone was a pile-driver; epic, a mover of mountains. It vibrated at the highest energies. Just listen to what I think is the ripest performance in the history of swing:

Roy may have used mutes earlier, but in the 1950's, he started using them a lot and it almost reduces his sound to the level of a common mute user. Not quite. He still exudes some power; has some growl, but that only makes it harder to understand-his style doesn't really change with the adoption of the mute. He's still a power player. Roy: why did you begrudge us hearing that beautiful sound full out!!

The muted Roy

Dizzy also began using a mute-at least recording with one-in the 1950's. It makes more sense with Diz. Yes, he had a powerful and beautifully idiosyncratic sound, but he also drew from a wider palette of influences than Roy. He was a slyer player and, of course, there was the Latin influence. Here's Diz playing his composition Con Alma on open horn:

You can hear how he bends notes, dances between phrases and shapes his rhythmic patterns in unusual ways. Also, how he varies the loudness and softness of the solo. It seems very reasonable for him to undertake similar tunes with a harmon mute. Here's a beautiful duet with bass player Chris White:

Now, here are Diz and Roy, side by muted side, in their great 1954 collaboration:

Rare shot of Freddie w. mute

Many great players mostly eschewed mutes. Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Booker Little, Red Rodney and Donald Byrd. As far as I know, Clifford used them not at all. Sweets Edison's use in later life makes sense, given the bendy, inflected style he developed.

If they wanted a change in sound, it seems like the choice of some great players after 1960 was not to use mutes, but to double on fluegelhorn. See: Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Art Farmer, Chet Baker and Woody Shaw. I have a vaguely curmudgeonly take on the fluegelhorn, but we can take that up another time.

I haven't talked much about the cup mute, which was played at one time another by all the swing era players and some boppers (especially Navarro). I will close this session with some cup work by one of our greatest players-Charlie Shavers. A man with a powerhouse delivery and tone, Charlie also shaped individual tones, used a lot of smears, slides and shakes. To me, he adapts his style perfectly to the cup mute and his obligatos behind Billie are sublime.

"The 7 Ages of Jazz-Kind" by Steve Provizer

2013-02-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

Watching my daughter and I find that she's been co-opted by pop music and is currently off the jazz stages list, but thought I'd repost it for other parents who are trying to evaluate their offspring's development.

With apologies to Shakespeare.

I. The Infant:
Muling and puking. Parents play music at home and, too young to put up a struggle, he is exposed to Ellington or Basie, maybe Miles; Nancy Wilson, Sammy Davis Loves Broadway.

II. Whining Schoolboy:
Creeps unwillingly to his trumpet lesson. Is drafted into stage band at school and learns how to play "swing eight notes" in Sal Nistico arrangements.

III. The Lover:
Simultaneously experiences the first pangs of love gone sour and the aching balladry of Billie Holiday, Stan Getz and Ben Webster. Rejects all other musics as unworthy of his devotion.

IV. The Soldier
Full of strange oaths; i.e., II-V-I, arco, flat thirteen. Looks for respect in the jazz-session trenches and is willing even to face the Medusa Donna Lee in Dflat. Draws his sword against any who would denigrate his jazz gods. Soul-patched, like the pard Gillespie.

V. The Justice:
In fair round belly, with wise lese majeste, he accepts the endless cycles of "Kind Of Blue" on jazz radio. He learns to shrug off the hype surrounding the latest wunderkind and begins to find truth in the notes of the elders.

VI. Spectacled and Slippered:
The search for the right mouthpiece fades, as does his once robust tone. The silence becomes more meaningful than the notes.

VII. Second Childhood. Taps his toe to Louis and then is heard no more.

National Rock Association (NRA)

2013-01-27T08:47:00.002-05:00

http://nyti.ms/14kaYCs

Recently, controversy has arisen over our efforts to introduce young people to the joys of rock throwing. Many of us in the NRA grew up in urban environments with an large indigenous supply of rocks and ample, safe targets that could be used by young people for healthy sport. It is our responsibility to pass on the joys of rock throwing to the next generation and, in the process, give our youth the chance to develop the kinds of physical, mental and ethical skills that will serve them so well later in life.

We know that this healthy, deeply American process is being threatened, but we won't sit back and let that happen.

Instead, we have raised money to purchase abandoned factories and made the windows available for target practice. We have brought thousands of de-commissioned street lights to our compounds so that young people can exercise their minds and bodies in the same way that ancient Greeks would train to throw the javelin.

We have designed a fabrication system that quickly renders a realistic 3-D target of the thrower's brothers and sisters. This adds verisimilitude to the process and our psychologists say it can help defuse sibling rivalries.

There are ignorant people who don't know the difference between a hand rock, a hunting stone and an assault boulder and it is the misplaced moral judgements of these pathetic liberals that threatens to force rock throwing into a dark, uncontrolled underworld environment, where the building of satanic stone cairns and altars can flourish.

Finally, we have begun stockpiling rocks as a necessary hedge against secret governmental plans to confiscate all rocks. We can and will fight this threat. The hulking monster that is our government daily threatens our precious independence, but we must take inspiration from the biblical story of Davis and Goliath; a story that shows us the continuing need to defend our right to bear rocks.

Jazz Reality Shows

2013-01-22T11:26:00.001-05:00

Director of Research

We in the off-brand musical world are tired of being ignored by the moguls who feed the bottomless American appetite for reality TV shows. Ever proactive, if not quite sane, the Institute staff has taken the bit between our canines, and moved our preliminary reality programming foray into high gear; all strictly high-end stuff, of course:

Clearly a Put-Up Job

Who Wants to Marry a Jazz Musician? Premise: A jazz musician masquerades as a normal person. A dozen blindfolded beauties are given a list of questions on which the jazz bachelor has been coached. Every time he reverts to type and says "man" or "dig" a small electric shock is delivered, bringing him back within the bounds of acceptable behavior. The jazz bachelor and the lovely winner win a case of valve oil and a trip to the Jazz Hall of Fame.*

Real Housewives of the Real Book. Premise: We give you an inside look at the lives of girfriends and wives whose jazz musician partners host a never-ending series of jam sessions peopled by Craiglist zombies. Episode One: Greta Semiquaver wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. Several hours later, she's discovered in a corner drooling and mumbling "Blue Bossa-please no more-Blue Bossa" over and over.

Look Carefully For Contestant

Alaska Gig Hunters. Premise: Danger and adventure beckon as recent Berklee graduates are given a motorcycle battery to power their amps, instructions on handling a dog sled and sent to Alaska to play on the streets of Anchorage. Busking champs get to sleep indoors (albeit with naught but method books on which to rest their weary heads).

No one's First Choice

Trading Bass Players. Premise: One band has a bass player that can keep good time, another one has a bass player that plays in tune, a third deals coke-well, you get the picture.

Bix vs. Bop

Battle of the Network Moldy Figs. Premise: Proponents of traditional jazz and bebop fanatics are locked in a room with a pile of 78's by Bird, Danny Barker, Monk, Mezzrow, Dexter, Condon, etc. After each side is played, contestants down shots of slivovitz and arm wrestle. At the end of each episode, Ed McMahon is summoned by ouija board and hands the winner an ectoplasmic check for $5000 a week for the rest of his life.

The Dreaded Turnaround Centrifuge

II-V Bootcamp. Premise: In order to learn what it really means to play chord changes, a group of fresh-faced recruits undergoes a series of physical and mental challenges. They must survive the nauseating Turnaround Ccntrifuge, the terrifying jaws of the Lick Eliminator and withstand the bone-crunching pressures of the Koko Krusher. Drill sargeants are instructed to withhold cork grease, valve and slide oil as punishments for the inappropriate use of upper partials. Survivors are guaranteed work as middle school music teachers.

Harold Always Gets the Solos

My Big Friggin' Wedding Band. Premise: As larger wedding bands are replaced by smaller bands, which are replaced by DJ's, which are replaced by iPods, there are almost no wedding jobs left in Gotham City. Harold Goniff has cornered the market for the few remaining gigs. Now, bandleader Harold is besieged by marauding gangs of out of work musicians. Harold must expand the size of his band or face the wrath of the gangs. Episode One: see how many musicians can fit on the stage of a VFW hall and how 15 musicians try to divide up 6 free plates of chicken a la king.

*I know. There is no Jazz Hall of Fame

Jazz on Television: Threat or Menace?

"Alan Lomax," briefly reviewed

2013-01-16T11:36:00.002-05:00

Author John Szwed, who has also done bios of Miles Davis and Sun Ra, does an excellent job of delineating the work of Alan Lomax; work which altered the landscape of American music. Lomax doggedly sought out musicians in remote areas and prisons and brought their music to light-live, through radio, film and television. He was an early advocate of the need to provide a socio-political context for the music, which changed the approach of music archivists both in the US and abroad. He championed civil rights and tirelessly promoted the work of unknown musicians.

Lomax was a driven, complicated man, who seems to have been as busy internally as he was externally. He was a risk-taker who was both inspired by and psychically somewhat intimidated by his father John. His sexual/romantic/family life was extremely complicated. He turned to and championed the talking cure. Despite his many successes and wide cultural acceptance, he remained broke his whole life. While elucidating an inner life is challenging, I would have liked Szwed to have put a little more meat on those particular bones.

That said, this book does a fine job of showing us the power of Lomax's work. To some of us, more preoccupied with jazz, Alan and John Lomax are names we recognize and associate with folk music, but as this biography shows, Lomax pere et fils played a very important role in the preservation and presentation of several styles of American music-especially African-American music. A highly recommended read.

Sing Along WIth Diz

2013-01-07T14:15:00.001-05:00

Brew reminds us that this year marks 20 years since the death of Dizzy Gillespie-one of the great souls of jazz.

Some time ago, I wrote words for every note of Dizzy's amazing 1945 solo on I Can't Get Started. I invite you all to listen and to sing along, using my lyrics. If you don't know the solo, there's a lot of notes and it's a challenge. I've tried to notate it in a way that makes sense musically. Give it a shot and try as often as you like. If you get it down, record it and send it to me and I'll gleefully post your rendition. Tell your vocalist friends.

Long live Diz.

INTRO

Someone teach me to win;

Don’t know how to begin;

I’m getting desperate to capture your heart,

Won’t believe that I can’t make you love me.

All my dreams are of you I fear,

The promise of your love brings me through

Days on my own,

My fate so unknown, depends on you alone.

Though many days have passed I still can’t

CHORUS

Start to prove that I love you.

Doesn’t seem right or fair, that the

Things I do aren’t convincing you,

You’re all I need, don’t you believe me.

Everything I say and I do is just to

Show you and to convince you;

Endlessly I search for new

Hills to climb. Wars to win, worlds to conquer.

Flying around the world

And outposts I’ve charted,

Don’t mean a damn with you,

Why is it so,

My exploits leave you cold?

I’m doing it all, hoping you fall, breaking the wall, give me a call,

Telling me you’ll always care;

And that you’ll always be near.

You’re still su--

BRIDGE

--preme to me,

Lyrics I write of you, still scheming to

See you night and day.

I see your face in every flower and your

Eyes in stars that shine above.

Obsessed with trying to possess you and caress you,

Feel your touch so tender and loving, beautiful eyes looking into mine,

Hoping that you’ll trust that I’m willing to share all I own and that I love you with-

My body and soul, such a hard road.

Don’t ever believe I would deceive or mistreat you, run you around,

Only sounds I want to greet you with is

Joyful, tell you that my heart’s full.

Notes that are true and fine, listen to them,

Say that you’ll be mine.

CODA

Remember that it’s not what I say or I do,

But how I feel.

Please try to find the

Meaning inside all the foolish things I say and do.

Open up your heart,

Let me get started, with you.

1950's Trumpets #4: Tony Fruscella

2013-01-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

There's an ongoing discussion in jazz about the playing vectors represented by Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke and how these manifested through succeeding generations of trumpet players. How does a player use techniques like range, articulation and dynamics to favor melody and cool like Bix, or power and heat, like Louis?

The differences between schools are often exaggerated. After all, Pops knew melody and Bix did not lack fire, which makes placing most players squarely in one school or another difficult. Tony Fruscella, on the other hand, was clearly a child of Bix.

A brief recap shows that, in the Swing era, most players came from the Armstrong power vector-Roy Eldridge, Harry James, Charlie Shavers, Bunny Berigan, Rex Stewart... At the same time, though, there were players who, often choosing the cornet, stayed closer to Bix-Bobby Hackett, Wingy Manone, Billy Butterfield, Wild Bill Davison...

Bop trumpet players came more from power and technique-Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Howard McGhee, Red Rodney, Sonny Berman. Miles Davis had technique, but edged more toward the Bix side of the ledger. The lineage of the "West Coast" players really comes from Bix and Miles. Of these, Chet Baker became the most well known.

Chet had very good chops, although he didn't have the top register that's associated with the Armstrong vector. However, his playing (more true in his earlier days) was strong and well articulated throughout his range.

If Bix, Miles and Baker diminished the importance of power over melody, Fruscella disregarded it almost completely.

Morgana

Tony Fruscelli was a New York guy, whose marginal lifestyle fell into the post-Parker pattern as led by a fair number of jazz musicians in the late 40's-50's (although anyone who could get the great singer Morgana King to marry him had to have some shit together). I won't go into his fairly sordid bio, but John Dunton covers it pretty well here.

Fruscella played in an Army band as a late teenager, came back to NYC and started jamming around and first recorded in 1948. Even in this early recording, Fruscella's style was already established. Here's "Out of Nowhere," from that session.

That's surely about as "cool" a vibe as was recorded at that time. Fruscella's playing is a little sloppy, but his intent seems clear-to make each note fit in a melodic pattern, while avoiding "licks" as much as possible.

We know of no recordings from 1948 until 1952, when Tony did a private recording at Rudy Van Gelder's studio (I don't know if that's available) and a recording at a house in Brooklyn.

Then, in 1953, Fruscella was recorded live at the Open Door in NYC, with Brew Moore (ts), Tony Fruscella (t), Bill Triglia (p), Teddy Kotick (b), Art Mardigan (d)
Here he plays the ballad "Imagination."

Record audio or upload mp3 >>

Tony's performance is languorous and pretty straightforward, with few of the extended sixteenth note elaborations that we were hearing in Clifford Brown's ballad playing at that time.

Fruscella did a fair amount of in-studio, live and informal recording in '53 and '54 and in 1955, worked with Stan Getz, with whom he recorded "Dear Old Stockholm," a radio air check from Birdland. The rhythm section was Johnny Williams (p), Bill Anthony (b), Frank Isola (d).

Audio recording >>

You may have heard him sneak in a quote from Rite of Spring. In any case, long spaces, sudden onslaughts of notes, twists and turns-the Fruscella lingua franca-was well-established by this point.

Later in 1955, Tony returned with a familiar cast of characters: Allen Eager (ts), Bill Triglia (p), Bill Anthony (b), Will Bradley, Jr. (d). He's the sole horn soloist on this track, "I'll Be Seeing You."

As always, Tony stays in the middle and lower registers. He alternates short, swift runs with sparse lines that tell us something useful about the chords. It's damn pretty.

There is no record of Fruscella recording after 1955 until 1959, the year he may have recorded Lover Man as a duet with guitarist Bill Keck. His other, and final recording, was made at Ridgewood NJ High School in November, with a nice band: Phil Woods (as), Bill Triglia (p), Paul Chambers (b), Roy Hall (d). Here's "Tony's Blues."

Audio recording >>

Fruscella's style and sound leaves me alternately with a sense of wholeness and with a sense of lost opportunity. Sometimes Fruscella's technique is a perfect vehicle for his conception of melody, rhythmic displacement and silence. Other times, he seems to lose focus and just trail off. You have to wonder if such lapses would have happened if his energy not been sapped by dope.

Jazz/Culture/Violence

2012-12-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

Where does jazz fit in the post-Newtown discussion about violence and popular culture?

While not really in the mix now, jazz has historically played the role that hip hop, some kinds of rock and video games now play. This short overview will look at mainstream perceptions of the relationship between jazz and "violence" and how that perception changed through time.

Jazz grabbed a lot of pieces of American culture to create itself: field shouts, preaching, spirituals, minstrelsy, blues, ragtime, parlor music, brass band music. Further, most of those were, themselves, hybrid strains.

Some of those influences, like spirituals, preaching and parlor music, self-identified as "genteel," or "uplifting." Some, like field shouts and hollers and blues, were labeled "slave music;" and were, by implication, "low." Minstrelsy and ragtime were associated with shakier morality-more urban, apt to indulge in "sophisticated" humor and often associated with houses of ill repute. Brass band music was energetic and its association with circuses(entertainment) reduced its moral tone. However, many of the trappings of performance-the military, the village green-were less suspect. Call it somewhere in between.

Each of these genres was also associated with the relative presence of, or lack of, violence. It's easy to see which was which.

By the turn of the 20th century, a music we now see as incipient jazz was being played by Buddy Bolden's group, Jelly Roll Morton and others. While it contained many musical influences, both "high" and"low," and was played at benign venues like parades and picnics, it was more closely associated with Storyville gut bucket joints, or the rough parts of cities like St. Louis and Memphis. Often described as wild and uncontrolled, the music was acquiring a specifically disreputable image.

Musicians in various cities were able to work both sides of the fence, playing improvisational music in joints and waltzes and quadrilles at balls and cotillions. With the unusual exception of James Reese Europe and the Clef Club in New York City, there was a racialist system which relegated darker-skinned musicians to gin joints, parades and lower-paying gigs, while whites or lighter-skinned creoles (in New Orleans) were able to work anywhere.

As the teens proceeded, there was more mixing among musicians and bands were expected to play many different kinds of "high" or "low-down" music, but by this point, jazz had provoked a serious moral backlash. Crusaders from many cultural niches helped to position it solidly as an anti-establishment music, associated with the demi-monde.

King Oliver and co. in Chicago

With the onset of Prohibition in 1919, jazz became anthemic for people flouting bourgeois norms. Bootleggers and other prospering members of the criminal class moved into the nightclub business and jazz was the music of choice. While merely a bystander, jazz became more specifically linked to violence, and moralistic, anti-jazz campaigns were common.

The backlash against Prohibition and its eventual demise in 1933 coincided with the rise of "swing" music. The cultural perception of jazz shifted and the music became less something to epater le bourgeoisie and more something you'd play on the jukebox in the malt shop. During WWII, the music "played its part," helped to sell war bonds and became even less associated with violence (any irony there?).

The Connection

Post-war, jazz ran into more trouble because of its association with narcotics. Mainstream perception, subject to the paranoia of McCarthy-ism and the patina of Eisenhower-era placidity, magnified the connection between jazz and a violent underworld. Still, it was not a monolithic public response. Rock and Roll records were being burned and benign public beatniks like Maynard G. Krebs were, like, acceptable to the masses.

By the 1960's, jazz moved toward a more centrist moral/cultural position. A wave of spiritualism, spearheaded by John Coltrane and wider adoption of the Muslim religion by jazz musicians had defused the jazz-violence connection. Also, rock was now clearly the music of the counter-culture.

In the following decades, the common perception of jazz, to the extent it was thought about it at all, changed little. Rock musicians remained the bad boys until they were supplanted by hip hop artists. Video games then joined them under the public microscope.

Even though jazz always had one (sometimes small) foot in elite social circles, it also talked about things that gentility-or hypocrisy-precluded as part of the cultural dialogue and which, at the least, had overtones of violence. So, while there are "political" dimensions to any outsider-minority-generated art, mainstream moral codes, at least in America, have always exerted more of a sanctioning influence over jazz than has The State. Even during the 1950's, when the narcotics-jazz connection was widely noted, the State Department sent jazz musicians around the world to try and help win the Cold War.

The government has been too concerned with monitoring domestic political dissent and with its own overseas military campaigns, to pay much attention to the relationship of culture to violence on the home front. Even well-positioned crusaders like Tipper Gore have had a limited influence on government action.

The debate has been dominated by the people with the loudest voice and the most money (the NRA, if you haven't figured it out), who have successfully reinforced archaic myths of rugged individualism and the right to the untrammeled arming of our populace.

The Truth About Mouthpieces (updated)

2012-12-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

I recently posted about Booker Little and trumpet player/blogger Ian Carey commented: "interesting that he got that fat "1C" sound out of a tiny Al Cass 1-28!"

That's one facet of the mouthpiece mythology that I didn't get into in this original post: People believe they should strive to get to a bigger mouthpiece (1c-3c) so they can get to a "bigger sound." The truth is, it absolutely depends on the player. Enough great players with "fat" sounds have put the lie to it to make any young (or older) trumpet player think twice:

Clifford Brown's sound has always been renowned for its juiciness. What mouthpiece did he use? Bach 17C1 and 17C2, equivalent now to Bach 10 3/4 CW. Small. Ditto Conte Condoli. Ditto Fats Navarro. You think of Red Allen's sound as small? Don't think so. He used a very small cup Zottola. Dizzy Gillespie: Al Cass 2-24 & 2-25-equivalent to a Bach 11.75. The list is long.

The neglect that I experienced around mouthpiece choice and which I believe continues in early brass education is sickening. Young players: You need to know how important mouthpieces are. I truly believe that players just starting out are given mouthpieces that are several sizes too big and trying to use a mouthpiece that's too big can really mess you up.

You can play almost any trumpet, unless it's a real piece of junk, but having the wrong mouthpiece can absolutely stunt your musical growth. When you pick up this beast of an axe, you need positive reinforcement to stick with it. The wrong mouthpiece can make it so much more difficult to play that it can erode morale and no doubt has led many to ditch the horn. On the other hand, finding the right size mouthpiece can be incredibly motivating and speed you on your way to great range and flexibility.

As far as I know, to this day, when instruments are handed out, mouthpieces are a "one size fits all" proposition. No attempt is made to find one that suits the player. And chances are, the stock mouthpiece dished out-a 7C Bach-is not what the student needs. Yea, it's hard to get an accurate reading on this the first time someone picks up a horn, but you can revisit it 6 months or a year later and see what's up.

It makes no sense to think that someone would intuitively know about this.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of different mouthpieces out there. This just shows that the most infinitesimal difference in outside and inside diameter, cup size, shape, throat size, etc can make a big difference. In fact, there are so many variations that to be firmly convinced you have the mouthpiece that works best for you, you'd have to spend big bucks. About the least you can spend per unit is $50 and the price goes up from there into the $$thousands.

Even then, you're not done, because optimally, you'd have different mouthpieces to help you perform different kinds of music. You might want a more brilliant sound, a more diffused sound, darker, lighter, fatter, brighter, etc.

[Ed note: This concert was last year] I was fortunate enough to hear Lou Soloff play this week. He's a guy who carries about a half dozen mouthpieces in his pocket and as the music changes, gives serious consideration to which one he'll use. Combine that with a battery of mutes and you have a musician with the potential to produce a vast range of colors, which he did.

This is knowledge that is widespread in the "grown-up" world of trumpet playing, but there's no reason young players should not be hipped to it. I think we've lost some good ones because they weren't. I only hope they didn't feel as though they had to pick up a saxophone...

Artists Respond to Tragedy

2012-12-14T16:12:00.000-05:00

From the biggest stars to those playing off nights in coffeehouses, musicians do have the power to effect change in this culture, by raising awareness and money for a cause. I call upon the members of the musical community to organize as quickly as possible to start the process. The power of the NRA has been unassailable to this point and this must change. If you live in the Boston area, please let your presence and interest be known.

I am confident that my own group, SLSAPS, will respond and possibly act as coordinators or, in any case, as a point of contact for either a single large effort or multiple efforts to raise money and support for gun control.

The pain is deep, but we can do something. Let's do it.

A Look At "Why Jazz Happened"

2012-12-07T14:12:00.000-05:00

There is much to fascinate here. It's rare to find a book with so much information which also reads so easily. Marginal Jazz fans will find a ton of material to interest them. Hard-nosed jazz-istas will too, but they may find themselves at odds, as I did, with some of the broad conclusions Myers forwards here.

I admit up front that I tend to be uneasy in the face of someone else's certainty concerning musical/ historical constructs. Even a dizzying array of facts seldom nails anything down for me. Take the truism that artists reflect the times in which they operate:
Easy to say, sez me,
But much harder to prove specifi-cally.

There are, for example, many jazz musicians born in 1985 who fashion their playing after bebop heros long mouldering in their graves. Maybe the fact that these musicians have heard hip hop or watched Dancing With the Stars is in there as part of their internal art-making process along with many hours of listening to Charlie Parker, but it's not so easy to parse out those influences. The process is always subject to conjecture, projection, bias, limited information; even with (especially with?) the words of musicians to back up your case.

On a larger scale, this is what Myers is trying to do in this book: anchor specific musical changes and content to historical, non-musical events. In service of this, he brings a laudable amount of research and scores of interviews, creating a book that is always interesting, sometimes enlightening, but occasionally too apt to push what is really conjecture into the realm of the authoritative.

Myers gives us an interesting account of the reasons for the growth of L.A. after WW II and tries to tie those events to the onset of "West Coast" jazz. His chief witness is saxophonist Dave Pell, who clearly had a hell of a time, but I don't buy the case that tract housing developments, sunshine, beach, golf and the movie industry made specific musical things happen. Myers says: "The sound suited its surroundings, placing a new emphasis on instrumental harmony, fluid execution, and polished teamwork"(p.94). Hmm. If Gil Evans and the whole New York Birth of the Cool crowd wasn't fluid, polished, etc., who was? Myers also talks a lot about how L.A. separated musicians because distances, driving, running between studio gigs, etc. meant that there was much less hanging out in the kind of places that thrived in NYC. Is this also the kind of environment that would promote the sound of "instrumental harmony, fluid execution, and polished teamwork" noted above? Don't think you can have it both ways.

A clear tale is told here of how racism operated to close down jazz activity on black Central Ave. and provoke black musicians to move to the East Coast. But there are also enough stories in jazz folklore about racism in NYC, harassment over drugs, cabaret card suspensions, etc., that the idea of NYC as a racial refuge doesn't ring true; even more so because the book acknowledges that on neither coast did racism between jazz musicians seem to be a problem.

The section on how R&B affected jazz gathers much interesting information, but the underlying thesis is not convincing: hard bop as an attempt by jazz to "remain relevant" by infusing jazz with the beat and funk of R&B. Myers quotes Gene Seymour here: "Instead of grasping for greater complexity, hard bop provided jazz music with an innovative way of keeping things simple (p121)." I don't hear it in the music. Myers cites Elmo Hope, Horace Silver, Lou Donaldson, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Benny Golson as hard bop composers. He says that hard bop had a "harder, more unified sound. (p.134)" and that it "added a back beat-a strong accent on the second and fourth beats of each measure(p.134)." I just can't buy it, even with Lou Donaldson kind of backing up the case. There were certainly some tunes that were more funky, but the predominating modality was instrumental virtuosity and a bop approach in the rhythm section. I can't see "Joy Spring" wooing away Earl Bostic fans. (It's cool, though, to learn that William Kunstler was the lawyer who helped Gigi Gryce incorporate to gain control of his music).

The chapter on the G.I. bill enabling a lot of musicians to acquire more formal music lifts a veil on the jazz-classical connection. I agree with Myers that formal classical training impacted jazz, but we disagree on what that specific impact was. Myers says that the result of this training was "a more complex form of jazz" (p.47). OK, if you're just talking about Third Stream music-and I see that music as more complicated only in terms of form, not improvisation.

I think the major effect of this training was not that jazz itself became more complex, but that trained jazz arrangers were able to move into film and television work and to work with more popular artists on recordings. Examples: Buddy Collette, Teo Macero, Dick Hyman, Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, Andre Previn and Bill Holman.

Jazzwax, Myers' blog, is superlative. It contains scores of interviews with musicians and music industry people. By putting many of his interviews in service here, Myers seems to want to make the tone of the book something in between just plain history and an oral history like Hentoff's "Hear Me Talkin' To Ya." But it sometimes begats a pastiche feeling. A sub chapter will start; you will see a quote; there will be a digression, then other quotes arise that recapitulate the start of the sub chapter, sometimes saying essentially the same thing. A story or a quote sometimes shifts chronology in a way that doesn't completely make sense. In the chapter on the rise of amplification in rock, we start out with Woodstock and go back to the mid 60's.

The internationalist Indian and African aspect of John Coltrane's playing is referred to, as is Trane's few allusions to the civil rights struggle in the titles of songs. But there is no effort to explain the spiritual influence Coltrane had and still has on the music and the musicians. The interior voyage of a musician is fueled by an incalculable number of personal experiences and is not easily quantified. I think this is where the difficulty of relating musical processes to historical events comes home to roost.

Does this mean I think it's a vain exercise to try and connect historical/technological events to musical content? Definitely not. There are conclusions here with which I take absolutely no issue-the ramifications of the Musicians Union recording bans of the 1940's; advances in recording-tape, the LP, the 45 and with amplification; Black separatism influences and others. If just as a gathering of information and oral history, Myers' effort is invaluable.

But wrapping things up into a too-neat theoretical bundle can be problematic. As with Dr. Frankenstein's efforts to create life, you can try and make sure that all the parts you put into the body are top grade and even then, there are no guarantees. You have to be ready to accept that your creation might pique the ire of restless villagers armed with pitchforks, torches and blogs (nothing personal, Marc).

1950's Trumpets #3: Joe Gordon

2012-12-04T16:59:00.000-05:00

Joe's one of our (Boston) boys. His career exemplified some of the larger themes of 50's trumpet playing: an early start, bop influence, big band experience, adaptability in various musical situations and on the down side: heroin addiction and early death.

Born 5/15/28, Gordon got early exposure to classical music through his mother, an amateur singer. He heard the Basie band, then a Coleman Hawkins/Don Byas group when he was a teen and signed on for a class in "modern music" at the New England Conservatory.

In his late teens, he worked on the railroads as a sandwich boy and jammed at various stops during layovers. His first formal gig was in 1947 with vibes player Pete Diggs in Akron(Pete Diggs?).

Boston's main man Sabby Lewis heard Joe in Boston and invited him into his big band. Joe's name got out there and in 1951 he played his first recording session with Boston alto player Charlie Mariano. Though it's tempting, I won't play "Tzoris" ("Pack Up Your Troubles in an old Kit Bag"). I'll play the title track, "Boston Uncommon." Personnel is: Charlie Mariano (as), Jim Clark (ts), George Myers (bar), Joe Gordon (t), Sonny Truitt (tb), Roy Frazee (p), Jack Lawlor (b), Gene Glennon (d):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xflf60xzalaicgf/A2.%20Boston%20Uncommon%20%28Master%20B%29.wav
It's a nice arrangement, right out of Birth of the Cool and the sound developing simultaneously on the West Coast. Gordon's solo is well-articulated and constructed, with nice little vibrato flourishes at the end of some phrases.

After Sabby, Joe moved through groups led by Lionel Hampton, George Auld and Don Redman. He did some playing with Charlie Parker when Bird was on the Massachusetts circuit. There is a December, 1952 private recording of "I Remember April" with Gordon and Bird, but any solo Gordon played didn't make it onto the recording. However, he and Bird did a live recording the same year at Boston's Hi-Hat club. Gordon's playing here on "Ornithology" falls in the Benny Harris/Miles school, although with a sharper tone and some different approaches to phrasing:

In 1954, Joe joined Art Blakey in a pre-Messengers group with Gigi Gryce and Walter Bishop which recorded on May, 1954. The good news in this video is there's 3 tracks, the bad news is the sound quality is not great. In any case, Gordon's playing has evolved. He's using more of the high end of the horn and the complexity of his phrases moves him in a similar direction to that of his successor with Blakey-Clifford Brown.

The first two dates under his own name were recorded by Gordon in September, 1955. Personnel: Charlie Rouse (ts), Joe Gordon (t), Junior Mance (p), James Schenk (b), Art Blakey (d). Here is "Rifftide" (Hackensack). Listen for "Over the Rainbow":

Gordon recorded a similar date with fellow trumpeter Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley on tenor. He freelanced around Boston until he got a call to join Dizzy's big band in 1956 on a tour to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Maybe the bread was good and the work steady, but it was not a situation conducive to developing one's solo skills.

When Gordon came back to NYC to work with Diz at Birdland, he recorded a few tracks with Horace Silver. Personnel: Hank Mobley (ts), Joe Gordon (t), Horace Silver (p), Doug Watkins (b), Kenny Clarke (d). Here's a chance for Gordon to get his teeth into some blues. Beautiful note choice, although I hear him thinner on the top and occasionally falling off on his articulation:

After a final, abbreviated tour with Dizzy's band to South America, Gordon came back to Boston in 1956 and joined Herb Pomeroy's big band, where he stayed for two years and recorded a couple of albums. I couldn't find anything that Joe soloed on. I'm sure he did solo, but it was a big band, it was Herb's band and Herb was a trumpet player. It stands to reason that, as in Dizzy's band, solo space was limited.

In May, 1958, Gordon moved to the West Coast, where his style fit well. He was a sideman with Benny Carter, Dexter Gordon, Harold Land and Barney Kessel before going with Shelly Manne. He did a lot of recording with Manne, including a multi-volume set live at the Blackhawk w. Richie Kamuca (ts), Joe Gordon (t), Victor Feldman (p), Monty Budwig (b), Shelly Manne (d). By this point, LP's and long solos were well entrenched in jazz recording and we can hear Joe stretch out as here, muted, on "Summertime:"

In 1960, he joined Thelonius Monk's group for another live recording at the Blackhawk. Personnel was Monk on Piano, John Ore, Bass, Harold Land and Charlie Rouse Tenor saxophones, Billy Higgins, Drums. He sounds relaxed in the Monk-sphere. I would have liked to hear him do more with Mr. Monk.

His final album as leader was "Lookin' Good," 1961, which was the first LP to feature a number of Gordon originals. This tune, "Terra Firma Irma," shows some of the modal influence that had infused jazz by this point. It's reminiscent of Adderly's Jeannine.

Gordon's final recording was on alto player Jimmy Wood's session called "Awakening," recorded September, 1961, with Jimmy Woods (as), Martin Banks, Joe Gordon (t), Amos Trice (p), Jimmy Bond (b), Milton Turner (d). Here is "Anticipation," a blues variation.

So ended Joe Gordon's career, at age 35. A cigarette left burning while he was on the nod set off the house and he was killed in injuries sustained in the fire.

It think it's fair to say that there was an up and down curve in Joe Gordon's career. His harmonic understanding grew more sophisticated, but there was initially a strength in his sound-a little bit of swagger-that never quite came to fruition. Withal, Gordon was a solid, creative force, whose style blended bop and a more cool approach in a way that worked for jazz musicians on both coasts then and which is a joy to listen to today.

Discography here.

1950's Trumpets, Pt. 2: Booker Little

2012-11-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

Don Fagerquist was the first focus of our attention in this series about lesser-known brilliant trumpet players of the 1950's. If Fagerquist's playing was pretty much down-the-middle, Booker Little set up musical camp farther out on the edge. Fagerquist was anchored in jazz developments of the 40's and early 50's, while Booker looked ahead to the 60's.

Booker Little was born in 1938 in Memphis, a city where Phineas Newborn, Jr. was elder to a number of future jazz artists, such as Frank Strozier, trumpeter Louis Smith (Booker's cousin) and George Coleman, who got Booker moving seriously toward jazz.

In 1954, after high school, Booker moved to Chicago and got a Bachelors degree in music at the Chicago Conservatory. For nine months of his stay, he roomed with Sonny Rollins, who was in Chicago preparing to join the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. Sonny introduced Booker to Max Roach, with whom Booker made his first recording and eventually gigged. The musicians in Roach's circle and those he knew from early Memphis days became many of the people he ran with during the short span of his career. His first recording was in June, 1956 and he died on October 5, 1961 of uraemic poisoning/kidney failure at the age of 23.

Booker articulated his views on music in a valuable Metronome magazine article by Robert Levin, an article used as the basis of this piece by Dan Miller. One way to introduce Booker's music is to quote his own words from that interview:

"Most of the guys who are thinking completely conventionally--they'd say 'Well maybe you've got a wrong note in there.' But I can't think in terms of wrong notes--in fact, I don't hear any notes as being wrong. It's a matter of knowing how to integrate the notes and, if you must, how to resolve them. Because if you insist that this note or that note is wrong I think you're thinking conventionally-technically, and forgetting about emotion.

Booker continues: "And I don't think that anyone would deny that more emotion can be reached and expressed outside of the conventional diatonic way of playing which consists of whole-steps and half-steps. There's more emotion that can be expressed by the notes that are played flat. Say it's a B-flat, but you play it flat and it's not an A and it's not a B-flat, it's between them and in places you can employ that and I think it has great values. Or say the clash of a B-natural against a B-flat."

You can hear that philosophy-find the emotion-reflected in Booker's playing, although not in a radical way. That is, rather than playing "free"- without distinct tonal guidelines, he stays "inside." He finds his way to emotional expressiveness through other means; chiefly by his sound and by paying a great deal of attention to shaping individual tones.

The tone itself, like Freddie Hubbard's, is broad, open and bronze-like [for trumpet nerds: think of a large bore Schilke, with a 1-C cup mouthpiece]. Booker adds embellishments to a high percentage of his notes: smears, near-smears, half-valves and other shadings. He is also likely to snap quickly between registers, creating a sense of dislocation. Despite the clarity of Booker's tone, even at its most stentorian it doesn't sound "martial." There remains a vulnerable quality that I have yet to hear in another player.

We'll begin by listening to a lovely ballad performance-"Moonlight Becomes You," from the October 1958 album, "Booker Little 4 and Max Roach."

The next track is from the Frank Strozier Lp "Runnin," recorded in 1959. I include this because I think it shows the reason Booker wanted to concentrate on non-traditional forms. The tune is based on "rhythm" changes and he's essentially running lines that aren't really connected enough to create a larger cohesive form. They follow the chord changes broadly, but are actually pretty diatonic within each sub grouping of changes and, while technically proficient, just aren't as interesting as his playing in more convivial harmonic contexts. http://youtu.be/ktI-X8nx558

Here he is in a Teddy Charles Sextet recording from August, 1960, with Booker Ervin, tenor, Mal Waldron, piano, Ed Shaughnessy, drums, Addison Farmer, bass. The tune is "The Confined Few" (I think we'd have to change that title nowadays). Here, while still dealing with frequent chord changes, he has more range for emotional expression. If we don't get to hear him hold long tones, and in different registers, we're just not getting all he can give us:

When he joined forces with Eric Dolphy, later in 1960, he seemed to have found his most convivial musical milieu. Their approaches are similar. Dolphy also shapes notes, pushing them into microtones. He also makes huge interval leaps. For both players, the emotionalism that often stays buried in the sub-strata of jazz, is brought close to the surface. Their first recording, in December, 1960's lp "Far Out," included this track, "Ode to Charlie Parker."

frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

In February 1961, Booker was part of the "Abbey Lincoln-Straight Ahead" session, where he does some beautiful playing. They were well matched in emotional pitch. Here is "When Malindy Sings."

Booker was part of the large ensemble Coltrane assembled for the Africa Brass sessions, but was not a featured soloist. The last series of recordings he made, in August 1961, was with Max Roach Nonets. Sandwiched in between was a date with George Coleman, "Booker Little and Friend" and a final date with Dolphy, recorded at the Five Spot on July 16, 1961. The last track we'll hear, Bee Vamp (pt 1 w. access to pt 2) comes from that session.

Booker Little was not a "representative" '50's player; nor, for that matter was he a '60's player. His very individual approach was keyed by a desire to stretch the jazz language to fulfill the key goal of his musical life: emotional communication with the listener.

Booker Little discography here.

The 1950's: a Brilliant Decade for Trumpeters

2012-11-21T16:39:00.000-05:00

Don Fagerquist

Blue Mitchell

I started off with the idea of looking at a few of the less well-known trumpet players who came of age in the 1950s. As I looked more closely at who reached maturity and was at or near the top of their game in that quiet Eisenhauer decade, I couldn't believe the wealth of players. There were the famous: Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry, Blue Mitchell, Joe Newman, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Art Farmer, Maynard Ferguson, Chet Baker, Donald Byrd, Doc Severinson(you could arguably put Miles here too).

Idrees Sulieman

Jack Sheldon

Then, there were the somewhat less well-known: Nat Adderly, Idrees Sulieman, Bill Hardman, Thad Jones, Carmell Jones, Booker Little, Dizzy Reece, the Condoli Brothers and Johnny Coles. Then, there are those whose names are pretty much restricted to the cognoscenti: Richard Williams, Don Fagerquist, Shorty Rogers, Cy Touff, Ernie Royal, Dupree Bolton, Tony Fruscella, Jon Eardley, Don Ellis, Jack Sheldon, Herb Pomeroy. I'm sure readers can, and probably will, name some I forgot.

Dupree Bolton

Herb Pomeroy

The playing of many of these guys does not fall easily into one category. They had mastered the bop idiom, but most were not strictly boppers. Some were cool, some partially so; some hot; some came from the West Coast, but didn't play "West Coast," some came from somewhere else but did; some chose the cutting edge, others went down the middle.

I'll hoist a glass to some of the players from this stellar decade in upcoming posts. Today, I'll feature one from the cognoscenti pile: Don Fagerquist.

No, not a Swedish dessert, he was a Worcester, MA guy (1927-1974). Like many players of that era, he spent significant time filtering through big bands. At just 13, he worked with local groups led by Bob Pooley and Dol Prissette. At 16, he joined the well-known Hal Mallett (oops, Mal Hallett) big band and in the next few years, he spent time in the trumpet sections of Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and Les Brown.

Around 1950, Fagerquist moved to the West Coast. He joined the staff of Paramount FIlms in 1956 and only recorded twice as a leader-for Capital (I Had the Craziest Dream) and Mode (Music to Fill a Void), but he was a featured sideman soloist on innumerable jazz sessions. You can get a pretty good idea of his discography here, although it's thin on the early stuff and on track info. The rest of that Helgerson tribute site has excellent transcriptions of Fagerquist solos.

Fagerquist played from the bottom of the horn to the top and his tone was consistent throughout. The top end is clear but not piercing and he could play lead, but that was not his natural spot. His tone uses a touch of the "squeeze" that I often hear from cornet players. He uses vibrato well, floating it in and out to good effect.

Here's a cool little video with historical footage of Don and his home town Worcester, put together by journalist/blogger Chet Williamson, who has an interview posted with Don's sister Evelyn. Fagerquist was a frequent collaborator with Marty Paitch and plays here on his arrangement of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," from the 1957 album "Eight By Eight."

Here he is as featured sideman in a Terry Pollard date from 1955, playing "Autumn Serenade."

As noted, he only did a couple of dates as leader. This is one, a 1957 octet date. The tune is "The Song Is You." Note also the fine alto work of Herb Geller, another West Coaster whom D.F. often played with:

So, Fagerquist was a fluent improviser, willing to give each chord change its due. He had his "things," but the percentage of fall-back licks to newly created melodies was low. He had great control of the horn and while not forging a unique path, was a solid contributor.

Unfortunately, many of the guys from this era, including Fagerquist, were caught in the post-Parker wave of drug or booze abuse (others met untimely fates through automobile accidents and illnesses). For an insider's view of Fagerquist's life and playing, read an extensive Jazzwax interview with saxophonist Dave Pell.

Peggy's Blue Skylight

2012-11-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

Just want to point B.C. readers to this video I uploaded to You Tube. This is the well-known Charles Mingus song with my lyrics. (I have put lyrics to a lot more of the song and to the Booker Ervin solo, but they are not performed here).

For posting, I excerpted it from my *teleplay of the same name, which is why you will see some video of the main characters in that teleplay over the audio.

The song is beautifully sung by Dominique Eade, with support by John Leonard on Bass and Tom Beaver on keyboard.

Here are my lyrics to the song:

[chorus]
A building is greying, its edges are fraying, a sign;
Of bad luck beckoned and innocence destined, to die.
Leave it and you feel,
You've got nothing left but to conceal,
The loneliness living in the city
That you cannot bear.

A blind man is singing, his cup is set ringing, a dime;
A gambler shuffles, a sucker is hustled, for wine.
Windows open wide,
Admitting not light but dark inside;
A face will appear and glow soft in the moonlight,
And die.

But a thought has begun to renew you.
To bury the blue you;
The loneliness shattering to pieces;
Thinking of Peggy and drinking in Peggy,
It's clear where your solace and your peace is.

Wakening in love,
Enfolding her tight, you look above;
The skylight is blue,
A frame for your emotions, tonight.

[Booker Ervin solo]:
As the rhythm of this solo
Marks up time with its notes;
So are our days measured by events,
Quickly or slowly the quality will tell,
That time is measured not by minutes or days,
Its pace a relative question changing with our lives;
People passing through, events determine, times pace;
Are we the victims of fate or do choices we make make a difference?

The answer may lie between the two,
A constant compromise between shifting winds of fate
And taking hold,
Making hard decisions and forcing life's hand.

Trying to find the questions,
Unsure which questions we should ask,
Hoping the answers won't be denied,
To a person who is living honestly, trying to be open.

Learning daily,
That pleasure often hides in, simple, places;
Born on a breeze bearing the scent of a warm autumn day,
Seen on the face of a child at play,
Lost in a warm moon-lit ray;
Locked in the laughter of your lover as she lay,
By your side soft, warm and gentle;
Questions fading,
As you see life is time lived moment to moment.
[Return to chorus]

I have written vocalese lyrics to many jazz songs and solos. Vocalists are welcome to contact me about checking out my material.

*I have posted the complete teleplay (14 minutes long): http://youtu.be/y_wXcgq4mQY

This Year...

2012-11-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

...we went to a restaurant.

Last Year

Son of Bad Jazz Art

2012-11-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

The u-readers of B.C. seem to have an unquenchable thirst for bad jazz art. Heeding that siren song is not just my duty, it is my way out of the complicated posts I have started and stopped over the last week...

Chet

A LOT OF bad jazz art treats musicians as though they are escapees from the local leper colony. This is no way to treat your heroes.

Miles

Anthropomorphizing natural objects is a venerable bad jazz art choice.

This one is called "Blown Away;" alluding, I guess, to pieces of his body (Art Farmer?):

I say it's the Wet Pavement Motif and I say the hell with it.

Neato. It's kinda like; abstract.

This is your Bad Jazz Art Professor signing off (a.k.a. crying in the wilderness). Pleasant dreams to you all and remember: the internet is forever.