Chet Baker: The Comeback

[c] –Steven A. Cerra, Introduction, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

I always thought that for Chet Baker, playing a beautiful, melodic solo was as easy as putting the trumpet to his lips.

It seems, however, that there was a time during his career when placing the trumpet against his lips was more excruciating than musically rewarding.

The cause of this agonizing pain was the dark side of drug addiction which caught up to Chet one night in 1968 when a group of San Francisco San Francisco junkies “… relieved him of his dope money and his teeth and made him decide he’d have to give up heroin or die.”

Doug Ramsey continues the story in his insert notes to the 1974 CD, She Was Too Good To Me [CBS Associated ZK 40804; LP originally by Creed Taylor for CTI Records].

Recorded in 1974, this was “… Chet’s first major recording since the night in San Francisco in ’68 …” when Chet encountered every brass player’s nightmare – losing one’s teeth!

Or as Chet explains to Doug: “Believe me, when a trumpet player has had his teeth pulled, it is a comeback.”

“Baker says that with the lack of self-pity that is as characteristic as the absence of hyperbole when he evaluates his artistry, past and present.

Of those early triumphs in the polls, he says, ‘I never really believed that I deserved it. As far as my playing now, I believe I have progressed conceptually, which is the important thing. At the time I won the polls, my style was very lyrical, a style the average person could listen to and understand without being overwhelmed with technique. I can still play that way, very cool, few notes, lots of empty spaces. I can also play very fly, very hard. I believe I play ten times better now than I did then. And I don't want to lose people, I want them to understand what I play on my horn.’

In this album, you’ll hear Chet play both ways, cool and “very fly." The lyricism is intact. The tone, if anything, is deeper and fuller. The celebrated similarity between Baker's instrumental and vocal phrasing is vividly displayed on those two gorgeous ballads of regret, "She Was Too Good To Me" and "What’ll I Do." The sense of loss expressed by the lyrics has never been more poignantly interpreted. And you’ll surely be able to "understand what I play on my horn" in the 16 bars of trumpet between the vocal sections of "She Was Too Good To Me." It's a classic melodic statement, in a league with Bobby Hackett's 1939 "Embraceable You," Jack Sheldon's bridge on "Then I’ll Be Tired Of You" with the Hi-Los, and Chet’s own "My Funny Valentine."

On the faster pieces, the springiness of phrasing; the floating, easy swing; the intelligent lines; the high personal sound with a touch of added brilliance; all of these elements testify to the continued vitality of an important trumpet artist. …”

With the assistance of the crackerjack graphics team at CerraJazz LTD, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles has developed the following videos to demonstrate both “the fly” and “the lyrical” aspects of Chet’s playing on She Was Too Good To Me.

The first video features Chet on Hank Mobley’s Funk in Deep Freeze while the second spotlights him on Rodgers and Hart’s She Was Too Good To Me. Assisting Chet on the first performance are Hubert Laws on flute, Bob James on electric piano, Ron Carter on bass and drummer Steve Gadd.  Don Sebesky arranged the strings and conducted the orchestra for the music on the second video.

Artistic perfection is something that every musician strives for.

With Chettie, even with broken teeth, artistic accomplishment seemed to occur as though he was in a continual state of grace and the Jazz Gods had shined a ray through him.

George Shearing, 1919-2011: A Tribute

[c] –Steven A. Cerra, Introduction, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

For a variety of reasons, February 14^th is a very significant date around our place. 

Unfortunately, this year added another basis to its significance as pianist George Shearing died on February 14, 2011.

George has been the subject of two previous features on JazzProfiles which you can locate by going here and here.

Sir George Shearing [he was knighted in 2007] had been one of our Jazz heroes for many years, again, for a variety of reasons including the unusual [for the times and since then, too] instrumentation of his quintet with its front-line of vibraphone and guitar, the block chording of what came to be known as “The Shearing Sound” [explained both in the previous features and in the following obituary], his wonderful wit, often applied at his own expense, his engaging way with an audience [he actually talked to them, although he could never see them as he was blind at birth], his intricate and intriguing compositions including Lullaby of Birdland, Conception and From Rags to Richards [a play on words involving the surname of his long-time vibist, Emil Richards], his marvelous albums with vocalists including Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme and John Pizzarelli, his longevity and his humanity.

The phrase “what a guy” becomes an understatement when applied to Sir George Shearing.

In the 1940s and 1950s, his early years in Jazz, George was often criticized for limiting the length of the solos played by his group.

At a time when many soloists were “stretching out,” sometimes to the point of playing lengthy and utterly boring solos, George would state the theme, give each member of the group one chorus, himself two, re-state the theme and end the tune.

In some cases, if the tune was taken at a very fast clip [tempo], the recorded track would be over in two or three minutes.

In talking with musicians who have worked in George’s quintets over the years, to a person, each of them stated that George’s shortened approach to soloing was a challenge that they welcomed.

Creating a good solo in a short period of time is not the easiest thing to, but when it is done well, it becomes a musical gem.

You can hear an example of George’s attenuated style of playing Jazz in the soundtrack to the following video tribute to George.  The tune is pianist Ray Bryant’s “Pawn Ticket.” Sadly, Ray, also died this year on June 2nd.

I think that the musicians on this recording comprise one of the very best quintet that George ever put together: Jean “Toots” Thielemans on guitar, Emil Richards on vibes, Al McKibbon on bass and drummer Percy Brice.

The video is followed by George’s obituary as it appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald March 22, 2011. It is a modification of one that appeared earlier in The Los Angeles Times.

[c] –Steven A. Cerra, Introduction, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“George Shearing started playing piano at the age of five but didn't receive formal training until his teenage years at a school for the blind. Shearing, the elegant pianist who expanded the boundaries of jazz by adding an orchestral sensibility and a mellow aesthetic to the music, has died aged 91.

A prolific songwriter, Shearing once introduced Lullaby of Birdland - written in 1952 in celebration of the fabled New York nightspot and its radio show - by saying: ''I have been credited with writing 300 songs. Two-hundred-and-ninety-nine enjoyed a bumpy ride from relative obscurity to total oblivion. Here is the other one.''

Shearing, who was born blind, first came to the US from England in 1946. His first job was intermission pianist at a New York club during a Sarah Vaughan engagement. He took a similar post at another club during an Ella Fitzgerald engagement and sometimes filled in for her pianist, Hank Jones.

He continued as a struggling, unknown until early 1949, when he hit on a formula that would establish his jazz identity.

Leonard Feather - the jazz critic, producer and composer who discovered Shearing in 1937 - suggested the pianist add a guitarist and a vibraphonist to the standard rhythm section to make up a quintet. The personnel in that first group were diverse, both in race and gender, and included John Levy on bass, Denzil Best on drums, Marjorie Hyams on vibraphone and Chuck Wayne on guitar.

The group went into the recording studio and came out with September in the Rain, which sold nearly 1 million records. Their first New York engagement came in April 1949 at the Cafe Society Downtown. They then went on a national tour and by the end of the year, Shearing's group was voted the No.1 combo in a reader poll by jazz magazine Down Beat.

With this group, Shearing developed what came to be known as ''the Shearing Sound'', which involved not only the make-up of the band - vibes and guitar generally were not both found in quintets - but also the style in which he played the piano. He used the ''block chords'' technique to create a big, lush, orchestral sound.

In his book The Jazz Years: Earwitness to an Era, Feather wrote that Shearing ''developed a new and unprecedented blend for his instrumentation''.

In that technique, a New York Times writer noted some years ago, ''both hands play melodies in parallel octaves with a shifting cloud of chords in between''.

Shearing worked primarily with his quintet for much of the next three decades. The personnel shifted but over the years included some of the finest names in jazz, including Cal Tjader and Gary Burton on vibes and Joe Pass and Toots Thielemans on guitar.

From the early 1950s on, Shearing had steady work in recording studios, first with MGM, where he was under contract from 1950 to 1955, and then with Capitol Records for 14 years. With Capitol, he recorded albums with some of the best singers of the day, including Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson and Nat King Cole, and achieved substantial chart success in the late 1950s and early '60s.

Though the commercially successful quintet was his bread and butter, Shearing began to feel limited by it and grew tired of life on the road. At one point, he told New Yorker jazz critic Whitney Balliett that his quintet played 56 concerts in 63 days.

''George drives himself harder than you notice,'' bassist Al McKibbon once told Feather. ''One night in Oklahoma City, I saw him literally fall asleep in the middle of a chorus of Tenderly. He woke up with a start and carried right on.''

Shearing disbanded the group in 1978. For most of the rest of his career, he appeared mainly in solo, duo or trio settings.

His work in duos and recording contracts with Concord Records and then Telarc in the 1980s seemed to revitalise him. He recorded five albums with singer Mel Torme that were successful both critically and commercially.

His autobiography, Lullaby of Birdland, was published in 2004.

Born August 13, 1919, in the Battersea district of London to working-class parents, Shearing was one of nine children. He started playing piano and accordion at the age of five but didn't receive any formal musical education until he spent four of his teenage years at Linden Lodge, a school for the blind.

It was there that he learnt Bach, Liszt and music theory. It was also during this time that he became interested in jazz, listening to recordings by American pianists Meade Lux Lewis, Earl Hines, Art Tatum and Fats Waller.

At Linden Lodge, Shearing showed enough potential to earn a number of scholarship offers from universities. But after graduating, he went to work in a local pub where he earned about $5 a week and tips for his playing. Within a year, he joined Claude Bampton's big band, a 15-piece unit made up of blind musicians.

Feather discovered Shearing playing as a swing accordionist in a London jam session. He quickly arranged for Shearing to record for English Decca and, although that recording date was not Shearing's first, it was the one that set his career in motion.

With Feather's help, Shearing got a regular radio program on the BBC. He had a Dixieland band and was also his country's leading boogie-woogie pianist. He was soon being called Britain's answer to the great American pianist Teddy Wilson and for seven consecutive years was chosen most popular jazz pianist by Melody Maker magazine.

While playing in an air-raid shelter, Shearing met his first wife, Beatrice Bayes. They married in 1941 and had one daughter before divorcing in the early 1970s. He later married Eleanor Geffert, who survives him, as does his daughter.

Over the years, he played for three US presidents - Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan - as well as the Queen. He was knighted in 2007.

An anecdote he related to Feather said much of his sharp wit: ''When we were preparing to be received [by the Queen], I was told the directive is: 'Do not extend your hand until the Queen extends hers.' I said, 'Well, either somebody's going to have to cue me or she'll have to wear a bell.' But somebody did cue me.'”

Julie London, Bobby Troup and The China Trader

[c] –Steven A. Cerra, Introduction, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

The China Trader is not there anymore.

Originally located at 4200 Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, Ca, it was a Chinese restaurant that had a South Sea islands and nautical theme with lots of tiki heads and bamboo sprouting from every nook and cranny.

For a time it was best known for being the birthplace of the Hawaiian Eye drink [think Mai Tai].

The '60s detective, ABC television show Hawaiian Eye was filmed at Warner Bros. studios in nearby Burbank, CA and The China Trader was the after-work hangout of its stars, Robert Conrad, Connie Stevens and Anthony Eisley and of many members of the crew.

The Hawaiian Eye drink was concocted there in their honor.

The Falcon Theater is in The China Trader’s place today.

Toluca Lake is a very upscale community located between Burbank and North Hollywood, CA. Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures studios are only a few miles away. A 10 minute ride over the Barham Pass takes you into Hollywood.

There really is a lake in Toluca Lake and it is surrounded by very fashionable homes and a country club that offers access to a marvelous golf course.  Bob Hope is probably the best known of Toluca Lake’s many long-time residents, but numerous luminaries associated with the entertainment business live in the community.

For many years, composer, pianist and vocalist Bobby Troop held forth at The China Trader in Toluca Lake.  He and his wife, actress and song stylist, Julie London, were residents of nearby Studio City. Since his piano was already stationed in the lounge, Bobby could and did walk to work on some of the nights he appeared at The China Trader.

Throughout most of the 1970s, Bobby and Julie were in the cast of the hit NBC TV show, Emergency!.  The popularity of the show only served to enhance the gatherings at The China Trader when Bobby was appearing there.

Bobby appeared solo on Thursday and Sunday nights and with a trio on Friday and Saturday nights.

Given his low-key temperament, unassuming personality and acerbic wit, Bobby always kept the atmosphere in the bar relaxed and cordial.

Julie dropped by occasionally and when she did, their were always numerous pleadings for her to sing, but she rarely did.

Bobby was one of the most comfortable-in-his-own-skin musicians I ever knew.  I first met him in 1962 when we were both involved with the Surfside 6 television show; he as an actor, and me as a member of the band that recorded the soundtrack for the series.

Over the years, I kept in touch with Bobby as The China Trader was a stone’s throw away from my home.  I even subbed as the drummer is his trio on a few occasions.

With 40-plus movie and television appearances to his credit and a slew of royalty checks coming in from songs he wrote like Route “66,” Daddy and Lemon Twist, Bobby was a very busy guy and a fairly well-off one, too. Good for him; not too many musicians make more than a few schimolies in the music “business.”

He was very pleased and proud of writing the tune – The Meaning of the Blues.

Interestingly, when Julie was in the mood to sing during her visits to be with Bobby at The China Trader, she invariably sang this tune.

And to close here's excerpt from James Gavin’s insert notes to her album All About the Blues which Bobby produced for Capitol [7243 5 38695 2 6] which aptly describes one of Julie's many gifts:

“LPs were her true medium. The queen of the make-out album, London recorded over 30 for Liberty between 1955 and 1969. Supported by a goose-down blanket of strings or just guitar and bass, she sounded so intimate that she seemed to be breathing into your ear. Men drooled over the cheesecake covers, which showed her snuggled in bed, posed in an alley as a scantily-clad courtesan, or seated backwards in an Eames chair, legs pointed up in a V. ‘I'm sure she hated all that,’ says Arthur Hamilton, the songwriter who wrote Cry Me A River, her breakthrough hit of 1955. ‘That wasn't Julie at all. She wasn't trying to seduce her audience; she just blotted them out. She hid inside the song. She didn't like to perform, she didn't like getting dressed, she didn't like that image she had to live up to.’”

The H2 Big Band: You're It!

H2 Big Band: You’re It!

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Big bands are Jazz’s answer to symphony orchestras.

At one time, they were everywhere, performing in ballrooms, pavilions and supper clubs across the United States.

Some big bands like those of Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington even played in that one-time bastion of legitimacy and privilege – Carnegie Hall.

Today, most of the big bands have gravitated to academic institutions, rehearsal halls and occasional appearances at concerts and festivals.

Some mark their debut with the release of a new compact disc.

Such is the case with the H2 Big Band which gets its name from its co-leaders: trumpeter Al Hood and pianist, composer, arranger, Dave Hanson.

The above video will introduce you to the band’s new recording – You’re It – which will be available for purchase on June 12, 2011 at www.jazzedmedia.com.

As always, Graham Carter at JazzedMedia is to be commended for all that he does for the music, the musicians who make it and the fans who dig it.

Here’s the media relations information that Graham sent along:

JAZZED MEDIA PRESENTS:

The H2 Big Band You're It!

CD JM1053              UPC 700261322278                       

Release Date: June 12, 2011

• Features jazz trumpet legend Bobby Shew playing on all 11 tracks as either a soloist, lead player, or section trumpeter—the latter two roles being something he hasn't done much of at all in recent years!

• Stellar new arrangements and compositions by pianist Dave Hanson and featuring co-leader Al Hood on trumpet.

• World-class soloists and players from Denver (including Al Hood, Brad Goode, Nelson Hinds, and Ken Walker) and beyond (Glenn Kostur & Bobby Shew from Albuquerque, Jason Carder from Miami, and Mike Rodriquez from New York). Features veterans from the bands of Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ray Charles, Phil Collins, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, and more!

Blue Brews

You're It!

Singing In The Rain

BMG

For Glaus

Big Spender!

Double Doubles

Blue in Green

Al's Well

Romanza

Joy Spring

There is indeed an emphatic flow of big bands. A prime example of one which possesses the attributes which jazz lovers seek is certainly the H2 Big Band.

It has the distinction of immediately blowing you away! It stimulates a large appetite for more, without apology. This exceptional band is a collaboration of trumpeter Al Hood and pianist/composer/arranger Dave Hanson, prominent jazz educators and performers armed with heavily laden credentials.

Their co-leadership is recognized in the name of the band: both of their surnames begin with "H" accounting for the unique name. Both Al and Dave articulate a wonderful like-mindedness and aesthetic temperament, revealing their synergies on many levels.

Special remarks from Bobby Shew are pertinent: "It's an excellent band. Dave's writing is praiseworthy and is perfect for the group. Al Hood is such a powerful player, a phenomenon - he's the Paul Bunyan of the jazz trumpet! The whole trumpet section is a killer!"

It doesn't take a long audition of You're It! to realize this is an extraordinary recording. I invite listeners to savor the fresh imagination and emotional heat of the swinging interpretations that showcase Dave's portraits, and the strong individualities of the standout soloists. Add the trumpet magic of guest Bobby Shew and the chemistry is complete. The H2 Big Band is a dynamite big band template. They're definitely "it!" -Dr. Herb Wong, Menlo Park, CA

CD available at www.JazzedMedia.com

Press/Radio Promotion: Graham Carter, Jazzed Media 303-933-0550 Distribution by Allegro Corporation 1-800-288-2007

Frits Landesbergen: Jazz Vibraphonist, Drummer & Percussionist

The above video may serve as an introduction for some to the music of Frits Landesbergen, one of the premier players on the Dutch Jazz scene as well as a professional studio musician and teacher in Holland.

Here are a portion of Mike Hennessey’s insert notes from Frits Dynavibes CD which is still available on Mons [MR 874-794]. Joining Frits on the album are Larry Fuller, piano, Lynn Seaton, bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums.

© -Mike Hennessey, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“When 14-year-old Frits Landesbergen was taken by his father to a concert by the Monty Alexander Trio (with John Clayton Jr. on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums) in their native Holland back in I97S, he had already decided that his mission in life was to become a professional drummer. So his interest during the concert was primarily focused on the work of Jeff Hamilton. And young Frits was distinctly impressed by what he saw and heard.

From that point on, he followed Hamilton's career quite assiduously - but, of course, since he was also a drum­mer, it never occurred to him that one day he and Jeff might get to play and record together. But, as it hap­pened, when Landesbergen enrolled at the Amsterdam Conservatory several years later, he was required to take up an additional instrument. He chose the vibraphone - though for the first couple of years did not entertain serious expectations of achieving a high level of accomplishment on the instrument. He says, "At first I didn't like the vibraphone at all because you have to develop your technique and that takes some time. But, in the end, I decided to try to make something out of it, worked hard at it and eventually got it together."

Born in Yoorschoten in 1961, Frits, whose father is an amateur guitarist and bassist, became interested in jazz around the age of 12 and, at 14, decided to become a professional musician. He studied at Amsterdam Conservatory, graduated in I98S, having studied tympani, classical snare drum, vibraphone and marimba, and began working extensively in Holland both as a drummer and vibraphonist. He also developed his skills as a composer and arranger.

Says Frits. "I enjoy having the possibility to work both as a drummer and as a vibraphonist because in the one case you are primarily an accompanist, giving support to the soloists and helping to keep things swinging and in the other case you are a soloist and have the opportunity to express your musical ideas and personality."

His musical associates over the years have included Rita Keys, Pirn Jacobs, the Rosenberg Trio, Madeline Bell and Louis van Dijk. He has also performed with Georgie Fame, Milt Jackson, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Daniels, Scott Hamilton, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass and Buddy de Franco, among others, and has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Big Band and the Metropole Orchestra.

His performance with Milt Jackson was for a television show, and Frits recalls: "It was very exciting to be able to play and talk with Milt for three days in a row. That's a memory I'll treasure."

Including this latest CD, Frits has made six albums under his own name in the last ten years and has appeared on some 80 other recordings as a sideman. His accomplishments as a versatile and dedicated musician were recognized by the award of the Wessel llcken Prize in 1986, the Pall Mall Export Prize in 1987 and the AYRO Television Award in 1988.

Frits cites as the players he most admires on vibes Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton and Gary Burton. And he also has a very high regard for the late Victor Feldman. He says: "Victor was a great, all-round musician who played piano, vibes and drums and he was also a fine composer and arranger. I think his vibraphone playing was more harmonically advanced than most other players."

Among his favorite drummers, in addition to Jeff Hamilton, are Buddy Rich and Mel Lewis - predilections which he has in common with Hamilton. In addition to a busy schedule as a working musician, Frits also teaches vibraphone and drums at The Hague Conservatory. Two years ago he invited Jeff Hamilton to do a drum clinic at the Conservatory. Says Jeff, "At this time I heard him play vibraphone and I was very impressed. I could hear his love for Milt Jackson and Monty Alexander in the way he improvised." We spoke then about doing some concerts together and I said I would be happy to play with him.

"Later he picked up a pair of drumsticks and began warming up on the drums - and he played superbly. I reco­gnized then how multi-talented he was and I decided I couldn't afford to let him near the drums too often! He really takes his music very seriously - he's a most gifted musician. We finally did some concerts together, which I very much enjoyed - and then last year I got a call from Thilo Berg asking me to do a record date with Frits. I was more than happy to oblige."

This album, then, is the realization of an ambition which Frits had nursed for a couple of years. And you can hear that it is an album which brings together musicians with very similar ideas when it comes to swing and a feeling for the music.

Says Jeff Hamilton: "The feeling was good right from the start. We had played a couple of concerts together before the session and when we got into the studio everything fitted into place. So much so that we did the whole album in five and a half hours." And Frits adds. "We started at 11 a.m. and had to wrap it up by late afternoon because I had a concert that night. But having that time constraint is a positive element because it concentrates the mind, produces a certain tension - and that's stimulating. We had some basic arrangement sketches with chord sequences and we did just two takes of most of the pieces - and it worked out fine."

Certainly Frits could not have wished for a more sympathetic, more powerfully swinging rhythm section. Jeff Hamilton, leader of the trio, is a brilliant all-round drummer who has paid his dues with Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman and the LA. Four as well as the Monty Alexander Trio. And bassist Lynn Seaton and pianist Larry Fuller have an infallible flair for establishing an infectious groove. Says their boss: "Larry has the same kind of feel time as Monty Alexander and, like Monty, he is not afraid to swing. And Lynn is a superb walker on bass. It is great to watch both these fine musicians grow."

Benny Golson's greatest hit, "Killer Joe", long one of Frits's favorite themes, opens the program and the rap­port among the four musicians is immediately apparent. …

A highly respected figure in the jazz community of his own country, Frits Landesbergen deserves to achieve more recognition beyond the Dutch borders. As Jeff Hamilton says. "Maybe this CD will help." I think there is little doubt that it will.”

- Mike Hennessey

Art Farmer 1928 - 1999: A Tribute

Art Blakey 1919 - 1990: A Tribute

Coleman Hawkins 1904 - 1969: A Tribute

2011 Monterey Jazz Festival

Click here to be directed to the MJF website for information about the festival's 2011 featured performers, pricing, seating, et al.

Eric Ineke’s “Blues, Ballads and Other Bright Moments”

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights

Much of the time, the elements that make up a successful Jazz recording largely go unnoticed.

“Successful” in the sense of satisfying and “unnoticed” in that they are taken for granted, assumed or accepted. The music on a particular album is so good that the reasons why this is the case are barely given a thought.

All of us know when we’ve encountered such a recording because we find ourselves playing it over and over again.

Such has been the case for me recently with drummer Eric Ineke’s new CD on Daybreak: Blues, Ballads and Other Bright Moments [DBCHR 74064] which is due for general release on June 3, 2011.

I’ve been enjoying the new CD by Eric’s quintet so much that the only time I have had it out of my home CD player is when I take it with me to listen to while driving my car.

Why?

Why is this a recording that merits such attention?

The answers to this question begin with the musicians themselves. Eric has assembled a group of talented, Dutch Jazz musicians who with Blues, Ballads and Other Bright Moments are making their third album together.

This long association between the players lends itself to a cohesiveness which results in the music evenly unfolding. Despite changes in tempo, rhythmic styles or whether the tune is a blues, a ballad or a “bright moment” [i.e.: a “burner"], the pace of the album constantly engages the listener as it moves from track-to-track.

The interconnected flow of the recording is even more amazing when one considers that all of the tracks where recorded in-performance on three separate occasions, November 29, 2008, May 10, 2009, and May 14, 2009, and in three different locations in Holland.

In addition to Eric on drums, the musicians in his JazzXpress are Rik Mol on trumpet and flugelhorn, Sjoerd Dijkhuizen on tenor sax, Rob van Bavel on piano, and Marius Beets on bass. Ruud Breuls substitutes for Rik on three tracks and Rob van Kreeveld steps in for Rob van Bavel on A Portrait of Jenny.

Eric is a “stay-at-home” drummer and with him in command in the background, the horn players are able to calmly execute their solos – whatever the tempo – and create their improvisations in such a way that they “speak” to the listener.

Put another way, all of the quintet’s member have good technical control over their instruments and this along with Eric’s steady time-keeping allows them to “slow things down” [visualize] and really think and feel what they want to “say” in their improvised solos.

Of course, such improvised solos are really substituted melodies and when they are done in an interesting way, these continue to engage the listener’s attention because of the surprise of what’s coming next.

A drummer can just take keeping time so far without the benefit of the insistent “heart beat” or pulse that an excellent bassist gives to the music.

In this regard, Eric is ably assisted by bassist Marius Betts who “locks in” beautifully with Eric to keep the time rich and full sounding while also framing the chords for the improvisers.

Marius’ bass lines are so compelling and rewarding that the listener could go through the entire album just focusing on them.

Although arranging credits are not listed on the disc, judging from what I have learned about Marius from previous albums, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a hand in all of the arrangements.

Trumpeters Rik Mol and Ruud Breuls play the horn in a mellifluous manner with a heavy emphasis on the instrument’s middle register. Chet Baker and Kenny Dorham come to mind as compared to some of the more brassier and attacking styles of playing the instrument.

And yet, in both cases, it would be a mistake to think of either Rik or Ruud as merely clones of iconic Jazz trumpeters because each is very much his own man and offer signature elements in their solos that give them a unique quality.

There is a calmness to their approach that allows their improvisation to unfold and to create an impact on the listener.  You can hum or sing what they play; they are always so musical and so swinging.

And when it comes to swinging, no one takes a back-seat to tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen who “plants his feet” and really “brings it” solo after solo.  Take your pick - Hank Mobely and Tina Brooks or Zoot Sims and Al Cohn – Sjoerd is in the tradition of all of these tenor saxophonists, but his sound is characteristically his own. His big, beautifully rounded tone on tenor is never grating or shrill and his improvised ideas flow effortlessly and endlessly.

Like Zoot, you get the feeling that Sjoerd came to play and could play all night – even after they close all the lights in the club!

Given the fact that Rik, Ruud, Sjoerd, and Marius are all still relatively young men, another quality that impresses the listener is their maturity, and no one more so than another relative youngster -  pianist Rob van Bavel.

It’s difficult to play Jazz consistently well, especially in the role of an accompanist who is also expected to become a soloist.  There is a lot of responsibility in feeding the horn soloists chords, or “comping” in musician-speak, and doing it in such a way so as to aid and assist with the propulsive force being created by the bassist and the drummer.

Unless he is very disciplined and always aware of what’s going on in the music, a pianist can impede the soloist by overplaying as an accompanist and override the rhythm section through the use of phrases that conflict with the easy flow of the time.

Pianist Rob van Bavel walks this fine line with ease and centers the group’s music while also contributing solos that are exciting and engaging.

Someone once said that with the piano, the whole theory of music in right in front of you in black and white.

Van Bavel doesn’t abuse the privilege of having this arsenal of 88 keys at his command and always seems to chose well whether his role is to support or as a solo voice.

Among the seven tunes on the album are A Monk’s Dream and The JAMF’s Are Coming, both of which were written by Johnny Griffin the late, legendary tenor saxophonist who lived in Europe for a number of years and with whom Eric performed on many occasions.

[“JAMF” was in vogue as hip language for a short while and never quite caught on as phrase for wider public usage. It is an abbreviation for “Jive A** Mother F” …. use your imagination].

Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight, Gene DePaul's and Don Raye's You Don't Know What Love Is, and the Dimitri Tiomkin- Nat King Cole collaboration, A Portrait of Jenny, make up the “ballads” portion of the program with Marius Beets’ up-tempo Jotosco being one of the album’s “blues” and “bright moments.”

For me, the disc's brightest moment is the JazzXpress interpretation of Nightingale, a tune composed in 1942 by orchestra leader Xavier Cugart and George Rosner with lyrics by Fred Wise.  It was recorded by Russ Morgan who led what was then termed a "sweet band" [think Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye and Lester Lanin] during The Swing Era.

The tune resurfaced again as the theme song for the 1955 RKO/Warner Bros. movie El Americano that starred Glenn Ford, Cesar Romero, Abbe Lane and Frank Lovejoy.

The soundtrack was written by the very same Xavier Cugart, the Latin bandleader who was better known to some by this time as “Abbe Lane’s husband!”

Played with a lugubrious rumba beat [which, by the mid-1950s, was being replaced in popularity by the mambo], the melody for The Theme from El Americano [as Nightingale was then renamed] is carried by the flute in the lower register in unison with a bassoon so as to create a sinister and mysterious tropical music sound [the film takes place in Brazil near the plains south of the Amazon River Basin].

In either of its earlier manifestations, Nightingale was a singularly uninteresting piece of music.

Enter the Jazz musician.

Jazz musicians are always making things out of air.  Someone gets an idea and the next thing you know a non-descript tune like Nightingale becomes a hip tune to play on.

I remember hearing tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca play Nightingale with a quartet that he put together in 1958 with Victor Feldman on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass and Stan Levey on drums.

Richie had recently been with the Kenton band and he would sometimes sub for tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse Café All-Stars around this time with Scotty sitting in on bass during the last set of the evening at the club. Victor and Stan were already members of Howard’s group.

In the spring of 1959, Scott LaFaro went out on tour with the Stan Kenton band and when he came back he kept talking about this cool tune that Joe Coccia had arranged for the band entitled – you guessed it – Nightingale. It was a feature for Kenton trombonist Archie LeCoque.

Richie may have also known of the tune from his time on the Kenton band.

He and Scotty taught it to Victor.

In the fall of 1959, Richie and Victor joined drummer Shelly Manne’s quintet for a two week engagement at the Black Hawk in San Francisco.  The result of this two week stint can be heard on the legendary live recordings that were issued on Contemporary Records.

One of the tunes that Shelly’s group recorded in performance at The Black Hawk was none other than Nightingale.

And there the matter stood until over 50 years later when Eric kindly sent me the advanced copy of his group’s latest CD which forms the basis for this review.

The opening track on the disc is Eric’s swinging version of Nightingale which you can hear on the following video.

It really is a small world after all, especially when you pay attention to the details.

Paul Desmond 1924 - 1977: A Tribute

William "Count" Basie 1904-1984: A Tribute

We wanted visitors to JazzProfiles to be able to tap their toe, snap their fingers or shake their ... whatever ... while on the site and what better way to enable this than to have some Bill Basie and Neal Hefti available.

André George Previn KBE – Pianist, Composer, Conductor – GENIUS

André George Previn KBE – Pianist, Composer, Conductor – GENIUS

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights

I recently came across a copy of the 1996 Ballads CD that André Previn made for Angel Records and from which the above photograph by Joanne O’Brien is taken.

The CD was nestled right next to a slew of solo piano and trio recordings that André had made for Les Koenig’s Contemporary Records label, primarily in the 1950s and 60s.

André plays beautiful, solo piano on the Ballads disc and while wondering how I came to know about the recording n the first place, I found a post-it note affixed to the CD insert booklet that referred me to an article in the late Gene Lees’ Jazzletter, a self-owned, monthly publication that Gene authored for almost thirty years until his passing in April/2010.

Friends since 1959, Gene shared this background about André in the introduction to his essay entitled The Courage of Your Tastes: Reflection on André Previn:

“In 1950, while he was in the army (along with Chet Baker) and stationed in San Francisco, André studied conducting with Pierre Monteux. He returned to Los Angeles and played with, among other groups, the Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars. His collabora­tion with drummer Shelly Manne on a jazz LP of music from My Fair Lady in 1956 set a fashion for such recordings based on Broadway musicals.

One of his albums, a lush recording of piano with orchestra and his arrangements, came to a crisis on the date: it was a few minutes short. André went off somewhere and wrote a string chart for some blues, went back into the studio, improvised a theme over it and got a huge hit on Like Young.” [Jazzletter, April 1998, Vol. 17 No. 4, p. 1]

Later in his piece on André, Gene offers this description of Previn’s playing including comments about it in relationship to the Jazz piano wizardry of Phineas Newborn, Jr. and Art Tatum:

“André really bothered the jazz establishment. He wrote movie scores! How degrading! And he dared to make jazz albums, including some with Shelly Manne that were among the best-selling in jazz history.

He was consistently trashed by the critics. The same thing happened to Phineas Newborn. There was an enormous suspicion in the jazz critical establishment of high skill. So vicious was this that, in Oscar Peterson's opinion, it drove Phineas Newborn mad. He said to Oscar, in tears, "Oscar, what am I doing wrong?' Nothing. He just had more technique as a pianist than the jazz critics, most of them, had as writers. And criticism is always an act of projected self-justification.

Thus those writers who lacked facility in their own work made much of "soul" and operated on the fatuous premise that high skill precluded it. You will not encounter this attitude in those who really know music and can really write. It is too often overlooked that Charlie Parker and Bill Evans had electrifying technique. But both men were heroin addicts, which fact enables that covert self-congratulation that is an essential ingredient of pity — as opposed to the nobility of true compassion — and in turn permits a patronizing praise.

André immensely successful, suffered from the judgment of jazz critics. The 1988 New Grove Dictionary of Jazz concludes a shortish entry on him with: "Although he is not an innovator, Previn is a technically fluent and musical jazz pianist." That takes care of that. Dismissed. The entry also describes Andre" as "influenced by Art Tatum." This egregious bit of stupidity almost always recurs in discussions of jazz pianists with well-developed technique, no one more than Oscar Peterson. When I was working on my biography of Oscar, I said to André "I don't hear much of Tatum in Oscar." André said, "I don't hear any."

Nor do I, nor did I ever, in André work. He uses none of Tatum's runs, none of his licks, none of his methods. This sort of comment by jazz critics almost invariably is a manifestation of deep ignorance of classical piano training and literature, which demand utter fluency in scales and arpeggios.

If you really want to hear the scope of André piano technique, listen to his 1992 RCA recording with violinist Julie Rosenfeld and cellist Gary Hoffman of the diabolically difficult Ravel Trio and the Debussy Trio No. 1 in G. If you do, observe the difference in sonority he educes from the piano for these often-linked but disparate composers.” [Ibid, p.3, paragraphing modified]

And Gene had this to say about André’s playing on some of the Jazz recordings that he made later in his career including his work on Ballads:

“… what struck me most was the growth in André’s playing. …. And André’s facility was no longer his enemy. He was using his remarkable skills as a pianist to dig in. His playing was far more reflective and certainly more emotional than in the years of his early prominence. It was deeper, darker than I had ever heard it; and yet at the same time the quicksilver tone had become more scintillant than ever. And oh! has he got chops. All kinds of chops: phenomenal speed, an exquisite illusion of legato in slow chordal passages, balance, and more. He has a subtle control of dynamics that at least equals that of Bill Evans. Bill's dynamics, however, were — deliberately; it was an element of his style — within a comparatively small range. Bill rarely took a whacking good thump at the piano, and André does. In this, then, his dynamic scope is broader than Bill's.

I realize with something of a start that a man who is (if Mel Powell was right) our greatest symphony conductor was also one of our greatest jazz pianists. What? Yeah. …

André told me at that time that he was thinking of making a solo piano album, all ballads. I told him I hoped that he would, and forgot about it. Then Alan Bergman, the great (with his wife, Marilyn) lyricist, told me on the phone that I just had to hear an album by André’ simply called Ballads. …

Reflective and soft, harmonically urbane, it became instantly one of my favorite albums, one that I will listen to often ova the years. It comprises all standards, except for two tunes by André, In Our Little Boat and Dance of Life. The latter is one he wrote for a show he did with Johnny Mercer in London, The Good Companions. These two tunes, along with one that is in the What Headphones? album, titled Outside the Cafe, would convince a statue of General Grant of Andres brilliance as a composer. …

Listening closely to the Ballads album, one learns something about his work as a symphony conductor. André has an uncanny control of dynamics in his solo piano. He can go loud-soft more suddenly and subtly than anyone I know. And his rubato is always true rubato: the time that is "robbed" (which is what the word means) here is replaced there. And no matter how slow the tempo, if you find the center of it and start tapping your foot you will find that his time is immovably there.

And this is true of his conduct­ing. He uses, indeed, both of these abilities. And now, having listened so closely to the Ballads album, and then revisiting some of my favorites among his symphonic albums, I am beginning to see what Mel Powell meant; I think I am reaching the point where I might be able to spot a Previn recording of a symphony just by its sound, for he uses dynamics and rubato like no conductor I have ever heard. What André is, then, is a shaper of time, a sculptor of sound. …

A genius, a word I never use lightly, is itinerant among us.”  [Ibid., excerpts from pp. 4-6]

To conclude this piece on the genius that is André George Previn, KBE, here are the introductory portions of Les Koenig’s liner notes to his Contemporary LPs My Fair Lady, Pal Joey and Gigi followed by a video tribute to André which uses as its soundtrack, Previn’s performance of Zip from Pal Joey as accompanied by Red Mitchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums.

MY FAIR LADY

“GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, in Pygmalion, from which My Fair Lady is adapted, proved that the difference be­tween a Cockney girl and a fine lady was mainly one of pro­nunciation. In his fable, Henry Higgins teaches the girl to speak English, thereby working a startling transformation in her. Actually the language she speaks remains the same. The difference is almost entirely a matter of accent.

And coincidentally it is also largely a matter of accent by which the wonderfully original and entertaining score written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for My Fair Lady has been transformed by Shelly Manne & His Friends to a wonder­fully original and entertaining modern jazz album. In the main, the melodies and the harmonies remain unchanged. But not the accent, the rhythm, the phrasing, the way the notes are attacked. It is still My Fair Lady, of course. But it is, at the same time, modern jazz at its best.

The sources of jazz have always been many and varied. The late Jelly Roll Morton claimed Tiger Rag was derived from an old French quadrille, so it should not be too surprising to find modern musicians finding jazz in Ascot Gavotte fifty years later. And in any case jazzmen have always turned to Broad­way. The sophisticated melodic and harmonic material in the works of the Gershwins, Cole Porter or Jerome Kern have always stimulated creative jazz musicians to improvise original, entertaining, and often moving performances. It usually takes a very long time, however, before jazzmen accept show tunes, and accord them the honor of a jazz treatment. "Jazz standards" are usually some time in the making. A case in point is Rodgers & Hart's My Funny Valentine which originally appeared in 1937 and had to wait over fifteen years before the modern jazz movement gave it new life in the '50s. And so it is a tribute to the My Fair Lady score that within a few months of the show's opening, such gifted  jazzmen  as Shelly  Manne, André Previn and Leroy Vinnegar were moved to play it.

Let André Previn explain the Friends' approach: ‘What Shelly, Leroy and I have attempted in this album is unusual insofar as we have taken almost the entire score of a musical, not just 'Gems from . . , have adapted it to the needs of the modern jazz musician and are playing it with just as much care and love as the Broadway cast. There has been no willful distortion of the tunes simply to be different, or to have a gimmick, or to provoke the saying 'Where's the melody?' We are all genuinely fond of every tune and have the greatest re­spect for the wonderful score in its original form, but we are paying our own sincere compliment to the show by playing the complete score in our own métier.’”

PAL JOEY

“THERE IS A STORY, apocryphal perhaps, about John O'Hara, author of the original Pal Joey stories, and author of the book of the Broadway musical, who, when asked to describe the show, is said to have replied, "Well it ain't Blos­som Time." Those familiar with the sentimentality of the Sigmund Romberg musical should get a pretty fair idea of what Pal Joey is not, and possibly, by indirection, what it is. Incidentally, when Blossom Time appeared on Broadway in 1924, Mr. Romberg was the subject of much discussion for adapting various Schubert themes for his score, particularly for waltzing about with a section of the Unfinished Symphony.

In any case, André Previn & His Pals, who are noted for their transformations of Broadway scores into modern jazz, haven't as yet got around to Blossom Time, but they have most certainly applied their alchemy to Pal Joey, and again, in de­scribing the results, one is tempted to repeat Mr. O'Hara.

Pal Joey made his original appearance (in The New Yorker) as the semi-literate writer of a series of letters to his Pal Ted, a successful swing musician and band leader of the late 1930s. Joey was a singer and M.C. in a Chicago South Side club, too much on the make for success and girls, "mice" he called them. Not a pleasant character, but understandable, as John O'Hara drew him. In 1940, O'Hara went to work on the musical ver­sion of Joey with the late, great lyricist Larry Hart, and com­poser Richard Rodgers, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The show opened in New York, Christmas night 1940. For many of us then, it represented the coming of age of the Broadway musical which for the first time seemed to be "look­ing at the facts of life," as composer Richard Rodgers put it. Now, 17 years later, the movie version with Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak, introduces Joey to a new genera­tion, and it is good indeed to have Bewitched, I Could Write A Book, Zip and all the rest around again. Not the least attractive thing about the revival of Joey is the impetus it gave André, Shelly and Red for the present jazz version.

THE PALS' PERFORMANCES were completely improvised at the two recording sessions. Before doing each tune, André played it straight, and then the floor was thrown open for discussion. Various possible jazz versions were explored, and once the tempo and general approach were agreed upon, the actual recording was usually accomplished in one take. This technique relies heavily on free association and the artists' unconscious. With musicians of the Pals' caliber, it makes for an unusually fresh and original approach.”

GIGI

“GIGI, BY FRENCH NOVELIST COLETTE, first appeared during the last war when the author was 70. She died in August, 1954, at the age of 81, after a small sip of champagne, having lived to see her slender story of a turn-of-the-century Paris adolescent, who had been trained to find a rich lover, but who falls in love and marries him instead, become the most successful work of her forty-four book career.

Gigi's phenom­enal public acceptance is remarkable when one considers the original is no more than an extended short story of some sixty-odd pages. It has been translated into many languages, was a French film starring Daniele Delorme in 1950, became a hit play in 1952, dramatized by Anita Loos and launching Audrey Hepburn, Colette's own discovery for the role of Gigi, as a great new star. Now, in 1958, it is a hit musical for MGM, starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan; and by way of the score for the film, it provides Andre Previn & His Pals: Shelly Manne & Red Mitchell, with their latest modern jazz version of a current musical entertainment.

The score for Gigi is by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (he also wrote the screenplay) and composer Frederick Loewe, who put their special brand of magic to work on their first project since My Fair Lady. And like My Fair Lady, it gives André a chance to apply his own magic to turning eight new Lerner-Loewe songs to modern jazz. As a matter of fact, the new fashion of doing jazz versions of Broadway and Hollywood musicals owes its existence to that now famous first My Fair Lady album (Contemporary C3527) recorded by Shelly Manne & His Friends: André Previn & Leroy Vinnegar in the Fall of 1956, and still heading the best-seller lists. The Friends followed Lady with Li'I Abner (Contemporary C3533). Then André Previn & His Pals: Shelly Manne & Red Mitchell made their best-selling version of Pal Joey (Contemporary C3543).

It was not surprising that André chose to record a jazz Gigi because, as musical director of the film, he supervised all of Gigi's music, adapting much of the Lerner-Loewe material for the background score, doing a number of the arrangements, and conducting the MGM studio orchestra. In truth, this album was projected even before Lerner & Loewe had written the score. They had been delighted with the Friends' Lady, and had a copy of it in their Paris hotel room when André joined them in the Summer of 1957 to begin work on pre-scoring Gigi. Then and there they insisted André do a jazz version.”