Ella At 100

I would so much rather talk about Ella Fitzgerald's 100 years (she was born on April 25, 1917) than Donald Trump's 100 days. The rap on Ella was that she couldn't sing the blues.  Maybe not, but she was probably the greatest interpreter of what has come to be known as the Great American Songbook.

Here's some proof:



This is what I wrote about Ella a while back when I was doing profiles of fifty jazz albums:

The Songbook series of recordings is essential listening; her live albums are remarkable, especially the classic Ella in Berlin, and the albums in which she is paired with Louis Armstrong are fun.  But when I feel like listening to Ella, my go-to album is Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie.  In a small combo setting (piano, guitar, bass, drums), she swings, scats, and settles down for some lovely ballads too.  Highlights include, but are definitely not limited to, A Night in Tunisia, Stella By Starlight, Jersey Bounce and The Music Goes Round and Round.

 Enjoy!

Birth(day) Of The Cool

Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926 (and died in 1991).  Click on these links for earlier posts on two of my favorite recordings:  Great Jazz Albums:  Relaxin' and Great Jazz Albums: Walkin'.

And here he is in 1964, performing Autumn Leaves with his second great quintet (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams):

Happy Red Garland Day

Red Garland was born on May 13, 1923 (and died in 1984).  He was a wonderful hard bop pianist, known for his signature block chord piano style and for his work in one of Miles Davis's greatest quintets. (See Miles Davis.)  Garland went on to record many excellent albums as a leader, mostly in a trio setting.

Jazz Interlude: McCoy Tyner

Coltrane's Moment's Notice. McCoy Tyner on piano, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Charnett Moffett on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. As I've said before, McCoy Tyner is one of the truly great and influential jazz pianists of the 20th Century.

40 Years After Monk

Thelonious Monk died forty years ago this week on February 17, 1982, at the age of 64.  Thelonious Monk is considered "one of the giants of American Music."  His music has been described as some of the "most original and challenging music of the 20th century. Whether it's his dissonant chords or his uncanny sense of space and syncopation, pianist and composer [his] sound is easily recognizable."

See and hear for yourself:



[Related posts: Jazz Interlude; Great Jazz Albums #11]

Jazz Interlude: Stan Getz

Stan Getz performs Jobim's Wave in Copenhagen with a quartet, from the mid-1970s that consists of Albert Dailey on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Billy Hart on drums.

Duke's Nutcracker

  Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's inspired arrangement of Tchaikovsy's Nutcracker Suite is my personal holiday favorite.  Here is the Overture faithfully performed by Wynton Marsalis' Lincon Center Jazz Orchestra in 2001.  The original (Duke's not Pyotr's) from 1960 can be found on an album entitled "Three Suites."

Jazz You Can Believe In

Sonny Rollins was honored by President Obama and the Kennedy Art Center earlier this month, as an American whose "artistry has contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world.”  Indeed.

Rollins is the eighth jazz musician recognized with Kennedy Center Honors.  (The other seven:  Ella Fitzgerald (1979), Count Basie (1981), Benny Goodman (1982), Lena Horne (1984), Dizzy Gillespie (1990), Lionel Hampton (1992) and Dave Brubeck (2009).)

In a tribute to Rollins, posted in September on his 81st birthday, I quoted one critic who aptly said, Rollins is "the single most enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop era, but also the greatest contemporary jazz saxophonist of them all."  Click here to enjoy an epic performance of St. Thomas from 1968, and here, for a discussion of one of his many great albums, Way Out West.

Jazz Duos: More Than The Sum Of Their Parts

When a great singer is teamed with a great jazz instrumentalist, it can either feel shallow and contrived or each musician can bring out something in the other so that the whole is more than the sum of two remarkable parts.  I've previously identified a couple of these magical duets in the list of fifty.  (e.g., The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album; Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown.)  Here are a few more of my personal favorites, starting with the best:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963).  I'm not sure there's a better version of Billy Strayhorn's composition Lush Life on record.  Hartman was not really a jazz singer, but the combination of his deep baritone voice and Coltrane's beautiful, relatively simple tenor playing (and the backing of Coltrane's great band) created a masterpiece.

Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley (1961).  As one reviewer aptly describes:  "Wilson’s colorful and graceful singing of some lesser known repertoire from the standard songbook is a refreshing and soulful treat for anyone interested in jazz singing. Adderley’s uniquely blithe melodies add a counterpoint to the vocals that has helped this album stand the test of time."  Another reviewer says:  "Given the play list and the outstanding artists performing it, why any serious jazz collection would be without this classic album is difficult to comprehend."

Time for Two:  Anita O'Day and Cal Tjader (1962).  I recently wrote about the wonderful jazz singer, Anita O'Day.  Here she is teamed up with the Latin jazz great Cal Tjader and the Afro-Cuban feel of the album really works.  Some of the song selections are a little quirky, but overall it is a really fun, compelling album.

Ella & Basie (1963).  This was the first time these two jazz giants recorded together, and it is considered one of Ella's best albums, which is really saying something. 

Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson (1957).  Some reviewers find this album a bit predictable, with Armstrong singing, then playing a horn solo, followed by a little back and forth with Peterson's piano.  Probably true, but I don't mind.  For me, listening to Louis Armstrong is always worthwhile, including on these familiar standards with the great Oscar Peterson.

Paul Motian (1931-2011)

The legendary jazz drummer, Paul Motian, died on November 22nd.  He was best known for his time in Bill Evans' great trio, from 1959-1964, along with Scott LeFaro and then Chuck Israels on bass.  He later played with Keith Jarrett, most notably in Jarrett's 1970s quartet which featured Dewey Redman on saxophone and Charlie Haden on bass.  Motian worked with other noteworthy musicians from Thelonious Monk to Joe Lovano, and was a composer and leader in his own right.  According to Ben Ratliff, Motian was "one of the most influential jazz musicians of the last 50 years."

As jazz critic Nat Hentoff observed: "Anybody who was the drummer for pianist Bill Evans was absolutely someone who did more than keep the jazz time, which means keeping the pulse of the music."  Motian was "a very inventive, subtle, lyrical melodist" and he and Evans "both were masters at harmonic inventiveness."

Quizas, Quizas, Quizas

The omnivorous jazz saxophonist David Murray released an album, “David Murray Cuban Ensemble Plays Nat King Cole en Español,” in which, together with a group of young Cuban musicians, Murray reworks Latin classics recorded by Nat King Cole on two records, Cole Español and More Cole Español.

As Gary Giddins describes in the liner notes for the album:  "The result is one of Murray’s most purely pleasurable albums. It demonstrates a tremendous leap in his approach to a world of music that has long fascinated him. The arrangements are imaginative, compelling, and wily, especially in the integration between winds and stings. The band is as tight as a fist. And there is a stunning feature for David Murray the improviser, a sensational tour de force and high spot in his massive discography."

So, here's Nat King Cole singing Quizas, Quizas, Quizas:



And here's Murray's version:

Happy Birthday Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day, born on October 18, 1919, fits easily in the pantheon with the greatest jazz singers of all time.  (She died in 2006.) 

One music critic put it this way:

Few female singers matched the hard-swinging and equally hard-living Anita O'Day for sheer exuberance and talent in all areas of jazz vocals. Though three or four outshone her in pure quality of voice, her splendid improvising, wide dynamic tone, and innate sense of rhythm made her the most enjoyable singer of the age.

As an NPR profile described her, "highly rhythmic with a distinctive sense of phrasing, she was one of the first big band singers to tackle the intricacies of bebop and prevail."  She was a "delightful and agile singer with a unique sense of humor," and an "original and musically literate style," who could "bend lyrics and break or stretch words" like Billie Holiday and "had a fast articulation and [] deep knowledge of harmony [that] made her superior even to Ella Fitzgerald in exchanging rapid musical ideas with instrumental soloists."

Put a great documentary, Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, in your Netflix queue and pick up any one of her wonderful albums, especially those on the Verve label recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.  

Here's a taste:  Let's Fall in Love, from a 1963 date in Sweden:

Jazz Greats: The First Fifty

About once a week over the past year I have profiled jazz albums from different artists to provide an admittedly personal and idiosyncratic Top 50 (in no particular order).  My choices were driven in large part by my preference for relatively straight-ahead jazz from the swing and bebop eras, and especially the music from the mid-1950s/early 1960s that evolved from bebop and became known as hard bop.  There are obviously many glaring omissions, but hopefully some pleasant surprises too.

Below are links to the complete list.  Take a look and let me know the artists and albums you think I've missed.

 #1 (Hank Mobley), #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley); #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker); #26 (Art Pepper); #27 (Bud Powell); #28 (John Hicks); #29 (Kenny Barron); #30 (Coleman Hawkins); #31 (Count Basie);  #32 (Benny Carter w/ Ben Webster and Barney Bigard); #33 (Chet Baker); #34 (Thad  Jones); #35 (The Great Jazz Trio); #36 (Ahmad Jamal); #37 (Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond); #38 (Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis); #39 (Charles McPherson);  #40 (Harold Land); #41 Booker Little); #42 (Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim); #43 (Art Farmer & Benny Golson); #44 (Wynton Kelly); #45 (Tony Bennett/Bill Evans; # 46 (Barry Harris); #47 (Elmo Hope)]; #48 (Mel Torme); #49 (Miles Davis All Stars); #50 (Oscar Peterson)

Great Jazz Albums (IMO) #50

Oscar Peterson.  The Oscar Peterson Trio At The Concertgebouw (1957).  As I was thinking about who to add to the first fifty posts, I looked over the prior picks to see if there were any blatant omissions of jazz greats to date.  I seemed to have missed Oscar Peterson, one of the greatest jazz piano players of all time.  Peterson was known for "his prodigious technique at the piano, and his tremendous sense of swing."  As one critic put it, his "speed, dexterity, and ability to swing at any tempo were amazing."  Peterson recorded over 200 albums, the best of which, in my opinion, are the ones with his great trio of the mid-1950s, consisting of Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar.  They made several excellent recordings, including The Oscar Peterson Trio At The Concertgebouw, which was actually recorded not at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, but at the Civic Opera House in Chicago.  One reviewer noted that this album finds the trio at the "peak of its powers."  Peterson sounds "especially inspired," with "the very tricky arrangements sandwiched between remarkable solos."

[Related posts:  Great Jazz Albums  #1 (Hank Mobley), #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley); #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker); #26 (Art Pepper); #27 (Bud Powell); #28 (John Hicks); #29 (Kenny Barron); #30 (Coleman Hawkins); #31 (Count Basie);  #32 (Benny Carter w/ Ben Webster and Barney Bigard); #33 (Chet Baker); #34 (Thad  Jones); #35 (The Great Jazz Trio); #36 (Ahmad Jamal); #37 (Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond); #38 (Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis); #39 (Charles McPherson);  #40 (Harold Land); #41 Booker Little); #42 (Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim); #43 (Art Farmer & Benny Golson); #44 (Wynton Kelly); #45 (Tony Bennett/Bill Evans; # 46 (Barry Harris); #47 (Elmo Hope)]; #48 (Mel Torme); #49 (Miles Davis All Stars)]

Great Jazz Albums (IMO) #49

Miles Davis All Stars  Walkin' (1954).  1954, as previously noted, was the year that gave birth to hard bop, with the release of A Night In Birdland With The Art Blakey Quintet, featuring Horace Silver on piano.  At the end of 1954, Blakey and Silver recorded another important album, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers.  Sandwiched between these two is a record perhaps equally influential in the development of hard bop, which also, not coincidentally, found Horace Silver on piano:  Walkin' by the Miles Davis All Stars.  Davis was at the forefront of so many revolutionary jazz styles that it should come as no surprise that he recorded one of the first great hard bop albums.  These sessions occurred soon after Davis had conquered his heroin addiction.  It also marked a departure from his "cool jazz" recordings.  As one reviewer wrote, "the undeniable strength and conviction present in Miles Davis' performance on Walkin', underscores the urgency and passion with which he would rightfully reclaim his status as a primary architect of bop."  In addition to Silver, the rhythm section included Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums.  With J.J. Johnson on trombone and Lucky Thompson on sax, this truly was an All Star Team.

[Related posts:  Great Jazz Albums  #1 (Hank Mobley), #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley); #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker); #26 (Art Pepper); #27 (Bud Powell); #28 (John Hicks); #29 (Kenny Barron); #30 (Coleman Hawkins); #31 (Count Basie);  #32 (Benny Carter w/ Ben Webster and Barney Bigard); #33 (Chet Baker); #34 (Thad  Jones); #35 (The Great Jazz Trio); #36 (Ahmad Jamal); #37 (Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond); #38 (Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis); #39 (Charles McPherson);  #40 (Harold Land); #41 Booker Little); #42 (Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim); #43 (Art Farmer & Benny Golson); #44 (Wynton Kelly); #45 (Tony Bennett/Bill Evans; # 46 (Barry Harris); #47 (Elmo Hope)]; #48 (Mel Torme)]

Belated Happy Birthday To Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker, born on August 29, 1920, was the greatest saxophone player of all time.  "Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker," was how Miles Davis summarized the history of jazz.  And he was not far off.  As Gary Giddins wrote in Visions of Jazz, "Parker was the only musician after Armstrong to influence all of jazz and almost every aspect of American music -- its instrumentalists and singers, composers and arrangers."

Here is some remarkable video from 1950 of Charlie Parker playing with Coleman Hawkins, the man who essentially invented the jazz saxophone.  (Hank Jones is on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Buddy Rich on drums.)

Great Jazz Albums (IMO) #48

Mel Torme.  Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley (1960).  The Velvet Fog was grossly under-appreciated as a jazz singer.  Perhaps because he sang with such unalloyed joy, he was often lumped into the same category as more saccharine pop singers of his generation when, in fact, he was one of the greatest interpreters of the Great American Songbook, far closer to Sinatra -- or perhaps Ella Fitzgerald -- when it came to pure skill and musicianship than to Perry Como and Andy Williams.  His work with the late George Shearing is well worthwhile, but my favorite album is Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley.  With this collection of Broadway standards wonderfully arranged and backed by the Marty Paich Orchestra, Torme brilliantly shows off his virtuosity that one reviewer describes as "unrestrained enthusiasm." 

[Related posts:  Great Jazz Albums  #1 (Hank Mobley), #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley); #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker); #26 (Art Pepper); #27 (Bud Powell); #28 (John Hicks); #29 (Kenny Barron); #30 (Coleman Hawkins); #31 (Count Basie);  #32 (Benny Carter w/ Ben Webster and Barney Bigard); #33 (Chet Baker); #34 (Thad  Jones); #35 (The Great Jazz Trio); #36 (Ahmad Jamal); #37 (Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond); #38 (Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis); #39 (Charles McPherson);  #40 (Harold Land); #41 Booker Little); #42 (Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim); #43 (Art Farmer & Benny Golson); #44 (Wynton Kelly); #45 (Tony Bennett/Bill Evans; # 46 (Barry Harris); #47 (Elmo Hope)]

Jazz Interlude: Cedar Walton

Body and Soul performed by Cedar Walton and his trio (David Williams on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums)from 2005.

Great Jazz Albums (IMO) #47

Elmo Hope.  The All Star Sessions (1956-61; released in 1976).  Elmo Hope is another unsung but brilliant jazz pianist.  (See also Sonny Clark, Kenny Barron, Wynton Kelly, Barry Harris.)  A boyhood friend of the great Bud Powell, Hope has been described as "one of the most gifted and original artists of the hard bop period."  Despite his drug problems and premature death at the age of 47 in 1967, Hope recorded with many of the jazz greats and "left a substantial legacy of intriguing and memorable compositions."  This is reflected on The All Star Sessions, which consists of Hope's playing in three different settings.  As another review describes, there is the "four-song jam session that has lengthy solos from trumpeter Donald Byrd and the contrasting tenors John Coltrane and Hank Mobley, along with fine support from bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Jones."  Next, are "the 1961 dates consisting of a sextet outing with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and the tenors of Jimmy Heath and Frank Foster" and "four numbers played with the trio," with bassist Percy Heath and drummer Philly Joe Jones.  Quite a group of All Stars, indeed, and an album aptly described as "excellent music from an underrated great."

[Related posts:  Great Jazz Albums  #1 (Hank Mobley), #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley); #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker); #26 (Art Pepper); #27 (Bud Powell); #28 (John Hicks); #29 (Kenny Barron); #30 (Coleman Hawkins); #31 (Count Basie);  #32 (Benny Carter w/ Ben Webster and Barney Bigard); #33 (Chet Baker); #34 (Thad  Jones); #35 (The Great Jazz Trio); #36 (Ahmad Jamal); #37 (Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond); #38 (Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis); #39 (Charles McPherson);  #40 (Harold Land); #41 Booker Little); #42 (Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim); #43 (Art Farmer & Benny Golson); #44 (Wynton Kelly); #45 (Tony Bennett/Bill Evans; # 46 (Barry Harris)]

Jazz Interlude: Benny Golson and Art Farmer

Benny Golson and Art Farmer perform together in 1982 for the first time in the U.S. in 20 years.  Well worth the wait.