James Price Johnson and William “Chick” Webb

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

From time-to-time, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles likes to give a quick nod to some of those who made the music during its formative stages.

Its our small way of remembering their contributions and it is a always great fun to compare what was happening in Jazz, then and now.

At times, even with the “distant” sound that characterized the audio of many of the earlier recordings, it can be quite startling to hear the improvised ideas and technical mastery of these early Jazz musicians.

Two such musicians that have always impressed us in this manner are pianist James P. Johnson, who died in 1955, and drummer Chick Webb, who died in 1939.

We have brought together video tributes to each of them as developed by the ace graphics team at CerraJazz LTD and coupled them with short portraits by notable Jazz writers.

© -Len Lyons and Don Perlo, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“In the hands of James Price Johnson [1894-1955], ragtime piano developed into "stride," a more boldly imaginative style characterized by a left hand that constantly strides from the lower to the middle register of the keyboard. Johnson played in a looser, more blues-based style than the classically oriented rag-timers. Though he was always drawn to composing orchestral works, he will be remembered most for his solo-piano playing and for his timeless composition "The Charleston" (1923). He was a profound force in the development of jazz piano, tutoring Fats Waller and influencing the piano styles of Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, and countless stride players.

Johnson began learning classical piano from his mother. When the family moved to New York in 1908, he was exposed to ragtime and blues at rent parties and in Long Island resorts during the summer. He studied classical piano as well as harmony and counterpoint with Bruno Giannini and he developed a superb, almost athletic technique, which set a standard that other stride pianists were expected to emulate. He would often introduce paraphrased passages from the classics into his own blues, shouts, and rags. Johnson also learned the repertoires of the eastern ragtime players like Abba Labba (Richard MacLean) and Eubie Blake. Johnson was known for his playing at a club called The Jungle, where poor laborers from the South danced to his solo-piano shouts. One can easily imagine from listening to his recordings decades later the relentless rocking rhythms he must have generated in that environment.

In 1917, Johnson began recording rolls for the Q.R.S. company. His original “Carolina Shout” [1921 and the audio track to the above video] became a standard for the era for East Coast pianists: [Duke] Ellington and [Thomas “Fats”] Waller, for example, learned it by ear.” Jazz Portraits: The Lives and Music of the Jazz Masters [New York: William Morrow/Quill, 1989, pp.307-308].

© -Burt Korall, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“Buddy Rich. ‘Until the mid-1930s, I had never been any place where jazz was played. I was in another world, a world called show business that really had nothing to do with music. I lived in Brooklyn with my family when I was becoming involved with jazz. One Wednesday night in '35, a bunch of my friends took me to the Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem for the amateur night thing. That was the first time I dug Chick Webb.

He was the total experience on drums. He played everything well. A little later, about the time I joined Joe Marsala at the Hickory House in 1937,1 went up to the Savoy to check him out again. What I remember most distinctly was that he was differ­ent and individual—not like Cozy Cole or Jimmy Crawford or any of the other cats. Even his set was different. He had cymbals on those gooseneck holders, the trap table, a special seat and pedals made specifically for him because he was so small.

Chick was hell on the up-tempos. He kept the time firm and exciting, tapping out an even 4/4 on the bass drum. That was something in the 1930s. Most of the guys downtown could hardly make two beats to the bar; they were into the Chicago style— Dixieland.

Chick set an example. He was hip, sharp, swinging. You know, only about a half-dozen of the top drummers since then, including today's so-called "great" drummers, have anything re­sembling what he had. If he were alive now, I think most drum­mers would be running around trying to figure out why they decided to play drums. That's how good he was!

As a soloist, Chick had no equal at that time. He would play four- and eight-bar breaks that made great sense. And he could stretch out, too, and say things that remained with you. It's dif­ficult to describe his style and exactly what he did. One thing is certain, though; he was a marvelous, big-band, swing drummer. Gene [Krupa] got to the heart of the matter when he said, after the Goodman-Webb band battle at the Savoy in '37, "I've never been cut by a better man."’ …

Webb in action made quite a picture. When swinging hard, he brought the entire drum set into play as he proceeded, moving his sticks or brushes across, around, up, and down the hills and valleys of the set. He choked cymbals, teased sound out of them, or hit them full; he played time and variations on the pulse on his snare, high-hat, cymbals, tom-toms, cowbell, temple blocks (often behind piano solos), and, of course, on the bass drum. He had facility to burn; fast strokes, with diversified accents, most often were played to forward the cause of the beat.” Drummin’ Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz – The Swinging Years [New York: Schirmer, 1990. pp. 19-21].

Glasses lifted to the early guys: no them – no Jazz.

Coltrane

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

One bar of music and you know it’s him.

Coltrane.

Anguish, angularity, an abundance of joy as in – “Look what I found!” – abound in John Coltrane’s playing.

The sound he gets on the tenor saxophone is as scintillating as it is searing. It goes directly into one’s soul.

His tone is pleasing and definitive to some, harsh and a plague on the instrument to others.

40-years of age and he was gone.

He was really only a force on the Jazz scene for a little more than a decade.

But in that relatively short period of time, he transformed Jazz while becoming one of the more divisive musicians in its history – this from a guy about whom the photographer Chuck Stewart once said: “I adored John. He was a sweet gentle person, a thoughtful, family-oriented man.”

We have no answer to this dichotomy. Mention John’s name and Jazz fans immediately fall into two categories: those who love his playing or those that hate it.

We love it: always have, always will, although we do prefer his “earlier periods" when there was less seeking and searching and more seeming satisfaction with having found a new approach to playing the instrument that followed in the footsteps of tenor sax pioneers such as Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.

How could we have not featured John’s singular approach to the tenor saxophone sooner on these pages?  Shame on us.

But maybe this hesitancy was because so much has been written about John that we barely knew where to start.

And then it dawned on us: what better way to begin than with a video tribute to him that contains a sample of John’s beautiful way with a ballad?

On the accompanying audio track, the haunting refrains of John’s tenor saxophone are heard on You’re a Weaver of Dreams along with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bassist and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

Should you require further, written commentary on John and his music you can seek out copies of J.C. Thomas, Chasin’ the Trane: The Music and Mystique of John Coltrane [[Da Capo], C.O. Simpkins, Coltrane [Black Cat Press], Eric Nisenson, Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest [Da Capo], or Bill Cole, John Coltrane [Schirmer].

In the interim, please enjoy this beautiful music.

“Coltrane … begins directly on the chorus with his pure, sensuous tone voicing a line very close to the original melody. … Coltrane appears more concerned with stating the melody clearly, then gradually reducing its familiar elements by replacing them with more and more connective material.”

- Don Heckman

Blue, Booker & Byrd

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

Trumpet players are a strong lot.

They have to be to push up all that air from their abdomens through the small bore opening in the horn’s mouthpiece to make a sound on the instrument.

The dynamics of playing the trumpet are also one of the reasons that some of them sing or play another instrument for a few tunes during a set; it gives their lips [AKA “Chops”] a rest.

Following the model set by Louis Armstrong, the earliest, significant solo instrumentalist in Jazz, many trumpet players were the music’s first “Rock” stars.

In addition to “Pops,” names like Bix Beiderbecke, Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis come to mind.

Although his fame was more limited due to his death at the young age of 25, Clifford Brown is another name that belongs to this august group of Jazz trumpeters.

In spite of his early death in 1956, Clifford Brown’s technical mastery and fiery style of playing captured the imagination of a host of young trumpet players who made the scene during the Hard Bop era including Blue Mitchell, Booker Little and Donald Byrd.

Thanks to the kindness of Kenny Mathieson, author of Cookin’ Hard Bop and Soul Jazz 1954 -1965 [Edinburgh: Canongate Press Ltd. 2002], the editorial staff of JazzProfiles did an earlier feature on these three trumpet players entitled Little Blue Byrd, the first part of which you can locate by going here.

We plan to repost this piece sans graphics in the next day or two on the columnar [left-hand] side of the blog. 

In the meantime, please enjoy this video tribute to Blue, Booker & Byrd.

The audio track is provided by Valery Ponomarev, another Clifford Brown-inspired trumpet player.  The tune is Lee Morgan’s Party Time on which Valery is joined by tenor saxophonist Don Braden, Martin Zenker on bass and drummer Jerome Jennings.

Chet Baker in Paris – 1955

“The combination of trumpet, piano, bass and drums, used for the first time by Chet Baker and Russ Freeman in 1953, was unusual for the period. It demanded a strange complicity between horn and piano.”

- Alain Tercinet

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

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles has been laboring for some time at translating passages from the French of Alain Tercinet’s highly regarded book West Coast Jazz [Marseille: Parentheses, 1986].

While this project is still in process and in order to give you a sense of his views and insights on the subject, we thought that we would share an English translation [done by Martin Deo] of Mr. Tercient’s insert notes to Chet Baker in Paris [4 CDs Emarcy 837-474/74/76/77].

In addition to their value for those interested in the career of trumpeter Chet Baker and his discography, Mr. Tercinet's notes also afford a panoramic view of both the tragic and creative aspects of the Paris Jazz scene over one-half century ago.

A video tribute to Chet and the music he made with American, European and Parisian musicians during his 1955 Paris sojourn closes this profile.

© -Alain Tercinet, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“1955. In Paris, Jazz was enjoying one of those heartwarming sunny spells. Record companies were not beating around the bush, recording musicians on their way through, and also French instrumentalists. Often with each other. The review "Jazz Hot," blithely celebrating its twentieth birthday, had been having com­petition since the end of the previous year, from "Jazz Magazine." Now settled just outside the capital, Sidney Bechet had become a familiar personality. His Antibes wedding, resoundingly splendid, was laid open to public curiosity in all the papers, and in the cinema newsreels. "Les Oignons" and "Petite Fleur" appeared on shelves in a respectable number of households, between Piaf records and Albinoni's Adagio. After a free concert by the Maestro, the Olympia theatre looked like a hurricane had struck. Claude Luter, a member of Bechet's band, along with Andre" Reweliotty, reckoned, not without humor, that an identical result would have been achieved if free vegetable-mixers had been distributed... Indeed.

The Vieux Colombier, the Caveau de la Huchette and the Kentucky remained the domain of the "St Germain des Pres New Orleans Revival" A stone's throw away, the Club St Germain, and the Tabou, the Cameleon and the Rose Rouge were flying the colors of modernism for all to see, with support from the Ringside, on the other side of the river Seine. It even seemed possible that this contemporary Jazz was moving out of its chosen haunts: the "Bobby Jaspar All Stars" had opened the first half of a program at the Olympia. The efforts of Henri Renaud, Marcel Romano and a few others were rewarded. The nocturnal creatures had already adopted the studied harmonies and ethereal sounds directly derived from "The Brothers" and their imitators, whether Californian or from New York For it was exactly this aspect of Jazz that seduced numerous French musicians.

The reasons were many and varied. The Bop revolution had been felt only recently, because of the Occupation. The "Be Bop Min­strels" with Hubert Fol and Kenny Clarke, took up the challenge, only to be confronted with another volte-face in Jazz, whose avant-garde was represented by Miles Davis' Nonet. Its impact was decisive: "It was when I heard "Boplicity" that I left the chemistry laboratory where I was working in order to devote myself to this music I finally judged to be worthy of an exceptional aesthetic future." When the author of this confession, the saxo­phonist Bobby Jaspar, arrived in Paris in 1950, he joined Henri Renaud to form one of the first "New Sound" formations.

Parisian jazz, at this time, had little cause to envy the Transatlantic kind, be it in quality or in the speed of its reflexes with regard to new happenings. As early as 1952, the young guitarist Sacha Distel returned from a business trip to the United States with the score of "Wildwood" in his suitcase, and even arrangements of "Thou Swell" and "The Song is You," given to him by Stan Getz before he had recorded them. Each visit by an American soloist brought new confrontations, resulting in a wider vocabulary, and refreshed inspiration. The leading lights of the new direction were nume­rous: Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, Frank Rosolino, George Wallington, Jimmy Raney, Gerry Mulligan, Cy Touff, Bill Perkins, Dick Hafer... and most of them went into studios arm in arm with the French, Clifford Brown, Art Farmer and Anthony Ortega among them, with charts by Gigi Gryce and Quincy Jones.

The cornet-player Dave Amram, baritone Jay Cameron, along with Jimmy Gourley, Nat Peck and Lalo Schifrin, had been transformed into permanent guests of the Left Bank cellars. Following the likes of Dick Collins, Buzz Gardner and Sandy Mosse, and preceding Allan Eager, Al Levitt and a few others. These exchanges were not all one-sided: Henri Renaud had gone to the United States to record with Al Cohn, Milt Jackson and J.J. Johnson, among others, and since December 1954, Bernard Peiffer had gone to start a new career.

If one adds that Martial Solal and Andre Hodeir were beginning to be mentioned, one can easily measure the vitality of the Parisian jazz scene, of which Chet Baker was to become a component for some time.

He landed at Orly on September 5th, probably after some hesita­tion: "Jazz Hot" had just announced the cancellation of his tour. Not without provoking frowns of disappointment among fans and numerous musicians, the people most concerned by the news. As for the critics, who were clearly more reserved, they would once again turn a selectively deaf ear to the proceedings. When all seemed in order again, one question remained on the agenda: "Will the real Chet Baker correspond to the silhouette imagined by his fans?"

At that time, very few things were known about his career. His albums appeared in France in an utterly disorderly fashion, and, as usual, discographical information shone by its absence. That he had left Gerry Mulligan's Quartet was certain; even though he had been seen again with the baritone player and Phil Urso for a Carnegie Hall concert on March 12th that same year. And Gerry had joined the trumpeter's group at the Newport Festival... Various notes and a few brief interviews mentioned bookings with military bands, his discovery of Jazz through Stan Kenton's records, and appearances on the Pacific coast with Charlie Parker. Only years later did we learn that Bird chose him at an audition featuring the cream of the crop of Californian trumpet-players, and that on his return to New York, Parker had this word of warning for his former partners: "You better watch out, there's a little white cat on the West Coast who's gonna eat you up."

For the time being, this was the Chet who had turned a pretty and nostalgic song, "My Funny Valentine" into a masterpiece of nerve-tingling emotion and chaste lyricism. So it was thought he could play only confidentially, protected by subdued lighting, the better to distill an insidious sadness. Would he sing, perhaps? An aspect of his talent that didn't excite any enthusiasm, even amongst his worshippers, so strong at the time was the prejudice towards crooners. We were way off the mark.

Solidly centered in the spotlight, Chet Baker was to deliver a magnificent raspberry to this stereotyped image. People expected a musician murmuring in the mist, and here stood an incisive, powerful trumpeter with a clear tone. Which detracted not at all from the poetic side of his playing. The chairs which logic indicated should have been occupied by a group of Californians, in fact contained two Bostonians, Dick Twardzik and Pete Littman, plus a native of Philadelphia, Jimmy Bond. None seemed an adept of obsequious accompaniment, or fading from sight As for the repertoire there were the hoped-for standards, plus curious com­positions written by Bob Zieff, the third to come from Boston. The themes had twists that were quite unorthodox, with beautiful harmonic audacity.

The Quartet appeared on October 4th at the Salle Pleyel. Sidney Bechet was in the audience, the "Bobby Jaspar All Stars" and Martial Sola! were onstage, opening for the Quartet. The public reacted well. Between trips away from the capital, and to Ger­many, the musicians recorded an album for Barclay. Five more seem to have been planned. The Gods were on the visitors' side... until precisely the 21st. The day Dick Twardzik was found in his hotel-room on the Rue St Benoit, dead from an overdose.

It was a severe blow, but bookings do not have much to do with sentiment. Two days later, Chet appeared in London. According to union rules over there, Chet could not play trumpet. Accompanied by Raymond Fol, he sang four standards before stopping, over­come with emotion. Then things happened very quickly, after an argument, Pete Littman returned to the United States in a hurry. Bert Dahlander took his place. Jimmy Bond was quick to follow the drummer's example. From now on, Chet was on his own. Paris became the focal-point of his activities, the jazz scene being perfectly adequate for his musical plans, as we have seen. Me had some good times there, like his jamming at the Tabou with Lars Gullm. His fellow-musicians had a high opinion of him, and he in turn saw the merits of those alongside him: Maurice Vander, Rene Urtreger, Bobby Jaspar, Raymond Fol, Jean-Louis Viale, etc..

From then on, when Chet took to the road, or went into a studio, his company was French or Belgian. Jean-Louis Chautemps, Ralph Schecroun, Francy Boland, Eddie de Haas and Charles Saudrais went with him to Iceland, Scandinavia, Italy and Ger­many. Never before had an American jazz musician undertaken such a long tour of the Old Continent When he climbed into a plane in the middle of April 1956, Chet Baker had been away from the States for eight months. During that time, he had lived through tragedy, and also had moments of glory; as evidence, he left behind three of the best albums he had recorded. French arrangers, Pierre Michelot and Christian Chevallier, had especially written original compositions that emphasized his characteristic lyricism. The departing musician was not quite the same Chet Baker who had arrived the year before: he had matured, and gained confidence and authority. 

From now on, one thing was for sure; he was someone to be reckoned with.”

Lennie Niehaus: "Annie's Dance"

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

When the editorial staff at JazzProfiles wrote the feature on alto saxophonist and composer-arranger Lennie Niehaus which is currently available for review at the bottom of the columnar side [scroll down on the left] of the blog, the crackerjack graphics theme at CerraJazz LTD had not as yet developed a video tribute to him.

This has now been rectified.  We’ve also added gathered a few, more praiseworthy comments about this “… remarkable alto soloist, with a sense of flowing melodic line, lovely cool tone, and strong feeling for rhythm. He is a thoughtful and serious musician, who composes and arranges in his own style, with definite ideas of where he is going and what he wants to achieve.” – Lester Koenig, Contemporary Records

“In the mid-1950’s, Lennie Niehaus avoided cliché, incorporated audacious harmonic ideas, and distilled the essentials of big band writing into arrangements for small groups. His recordings are still notable in the 21^st century for their freshness and daring.” – Fantasy Records/Concord Records Group

“Year after year, record after record, Lennie Niehaus seems ever truer to himself. His work is marked by the same simplicity of conception, same strength of execution, absence of the slightest extravagance and, …, the same honesty.” – Andre’ Hodier

“I’m still out there,” says Lennie Niehaus, looking trim and vigorous, a 78-year-old with plenty of miles left on his odometer. “Last year I did two movies and a six-hour miniseries, and a couple of years ago I went to England to conduct the BBC Jazz Orchestra.”

Not bad for a guy who was playing alto saxophone with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1951; has scored, arranged or composed the music for 17 movies produced or directed by Clint Eastwood; and who won an Emmy award for his score for the Showtime film Lush Life.” … - Don Heckman/ September 2007/JazzTimes

Tal Farlow & Red Norvo - All of Me

Guitarist Tal Farlow performing All of Me with Red Norvo on vibraphone and Steve Novosel on bass.

Brought to you courtesy of our friends in Omaha, Nebraska.

David Matthews and The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra

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

As you will no doubt notice from the above photograph as well as those of him in the embedded video tribute that concludes this piece, David Matthews smiles a lot.

After hearing his music, you will understand why.

This guy is a splendid big band arranger.

One reason for this is that he took a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from the conservatory at the University of Cincinnati. He knows what he’s doing, technically.

Another is that he has been doing this for a long time dating back to 1970-1974 when he was the arranger and band leader for James Brown Productions and subsequently from 1975-78 when he was the staff arranger for CTI Records where he wrote for Nina Simone, Hank Crawford and George Benson, among many others.

You can find a fully annotated list of David’s arranging and composing credits as well as his other accomplishments in music by visiting his website.

A third and perhaps primary reason for his marvelous big band arrangements is that he has a special gift for it – some guys just play “orchestra.”

They just know what works in writing a big band “chart” [musician speak for “arrangement”]; they know what to put where and when in the music.

They have a commanding knowledge [and often, an intuitive sense] of the range and timbre of each instrument that allows them to voice and blend them to create a variety of textures or sonorities [i.e.: the way the music “sounds”].

Talented arrangers like David keep the music interesting and exciting for both musicians and listeners alike: the former love playing on their arrangements and the latter feel good after hearing them.

You can hear David’s mastery at work in the audio track to the following video tribute to him and his big band, The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, as he takes Dizzy Gillespie’s oft-heard Manteca and transforms it into a fresh and stimulating piece of music.

One of the devices that he employs to give the piece a new sound is that he “plays orchestra”

You may think that there are only two solos on Dave arrangement of Dizzy’s Jazz standard: Ryan Kisor’s trumpet solo at 2:36 minutes and that of Scott Robinson on baritone sax at 4:03.

But David precedes each of these solos with one of his own using the full orchestra instead of the piano to play them.

You can hear the first of his orchestral solos just after the full exposition of the Manteca’s theme – from 1:51 to 2:35 minutes.

The second can be heard following Ryan’s solo, but before Scott Robinson’s: from 3:17 to 4:02 minutes.

David closes the arrangement with a stirring “shout chorus” [short for “shout me out” or “take me out”] that begins at 4:47 minutes.

Special mention needs to be made of Walter White on lead trumpet and Chris Hunter on lead alto sax, respectively, as their prowess is an important ingredient in making David’s chart come together so well. Chip Jackson on bass and Terry Silverlight on drums really keeps things flowing with the strong pulse they generate as a rhythm section.

This is brilliant stuff.

Did I say that David Matthews was one heckuva big band arranger?

Judge for yourself.

J.S. Bach: Bach to Jazz

David Matthews and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra is the subject of our next feature which will post tomorrow. In the meantime, you might enjoy listening to the band's music and David's "gawjus" arrangements by viewing this previously developed tribute to J.S Bach. Ryan Kisor [trumpet] and Chris Hunter [alto sax] are the soloists on Toccata and Fugue.

Ben Sidran: The Cat in the Hat

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

Once a drummer, always a drummer.

It’s a different orientation, a different way of looking at and listening to Jazz.

It’s what you listen for first and then the rest of the music falls into place.

As a result of this percussive point of reference, it seems I’m always getting to other musicians through drummers: Philly Joe Jones got me to pianist Bill Evans [I bought Bill’s Everybody Listens to Bill Evans’ album because Philly is the drummer on it]; Larry Bunker got me to vibist Gary Burton; Kenny Washington got me to pianist Benny Green; Steve Gadd got me to pianist-composer arranger, Ben Sidran, et al.

“Bad” Steve Gadd came into his own as a drummer in the 1970s and, as a result, he easily absorbed and blended Rock beats and Latin accents into his style of Jazz drumming.  His drumming was as much a reflection of what was then contemporary in music as it was steeped in the traditions of Jazz drumming.

With Steve you could be listening to a marching band cadence on the snare drum one minute, a cow bell clave the next followed by a Rock backbeat; sometimes all three together.

He combined these drum rudiments, percussion “influences” and the extremely unique sound from the way he tuned his drums into a style that became instantly recognizable as “Steve Gadd;” not an easy thing to do on a drum kit. And while he was putting all of these rhythmic devices together in a new way, he constantly swung his backside off in whatever the setting he played in.

So when I came across a radio broadcast with a version of Seven Steps to Heaven that featured Steve’s inimitable drumming, I feverishly swung into my Jazz detective mode to find the source album [in other words, I called the radio station].

The track was from an album entitled The Cat in the Hat [AM CD 741] by “Ben Sidran,” whom I originally came to know as a pianist with a gift for writing lyrics to Jazz tunes and solos in the style of Jon Hendricks - what Jon refers to as “vocalese.”

You can hear both Steve’s intriguing approach to drum fills, kicks and solos and Ben’s ultra hipster lyrics on the Seven Steps to Heaven track from this album as we have used this Jazz standard by Victor Feldman and Miles Davis as the soundtrack for this video tribute to Ben. Joe Henderson is his typical first-rate self as the tenor saxophone soloist [see if you can pick-up Joe's reference to Johnny One-Note when he comes back in at 3:14 minutes].

Just in case you are in the mood to sing-along, here’s Ben’s vocalese to the tune:

© -Ben Sidran, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN

One. two three, four. five, six seven

Steps to heaven

Five. six. seven, eight, see them pass

Free at last.

Trying to relate to the great masters

of our art Breaks my heart

As they depart

Fast!

One. two. three, four. five. six. seven

Steps to heaven

Steps to heaven

Steps to heaven

Steps to heaven

When Miles was in style

The boys wouldn't smile

The girls wouldn't clear the aisle

Now the man’s in exile

When Trane led the pack

There was no looking back

There was no doubt about the fact

You had to catch that act

Now Charlie Parker he's a movie star

But they just wouldn't listen

When the man wasn't missin'

Now the man's gone

Say there, can you tell me where the

man's gone So long.

The record machine

t came on the scene

And closed down the nightclubs clean

It sure is mean.

They're gone for good

Free at last

They took those steps to heaven

As Michael Cuscuna explains in his insert notes to The Cat in the Hat, Ben already had eight CDs to his credit by the time of its issue in 1979 so I had a lot of catching up to do.

Fortunately for me, my awareness of Ben bridged beyond just his musical accomplishments to include the Jazz Talk program that he hosted for a number of years on National Public Radio.

The interviews that Ben conducted with Jazz greats on these NPR programs have all been issued in book form and are also all available as CDs.

Here are a few more background notes and observations about Ben and his music by Michael Cuscuna.

© -Michael Cuscuna, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

It is not surprising that a kid from Madison. Wisconsin, who gigged in college with friends Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs and then went home to memorize Bud Powell and Sonny Clark records would turn out the way he did.

Ben Sidran played piano in that first Steve Miller band, but was really noted for the lyrics he wrote for many of their classic songs, including "Space Cow­boy" and "Seasons." Later, he went to England to study at the University of Sussex, and emerged with a PhD. in American Studies plus a brilliant book on American black music entitled Black Talk. He has continued to write, mostly for Rolling Stone, as well as liner notes on albums ranging from Jackie McLean and Eric Dolphy to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. He's produced records for Steve Miller. Tony Williams. Jon Hendricks, Sylvester and a few British rock bands that you've probably never heard of. As a pianist, he's done session work with the likes of Gene Clark and The Rolling Stones.

From all this, one might gather that Ben is versatile and eclectic, or that he has a multi-personality split to rival Sybil's. But the point is that his own music (documented by eight albums in as many years) is shaped by all of these diverse elements, not as in a patchwork collage, but existing simultaneously, congruently. welded together by Ben's personal vision and creativity. His is not some kind of "fusion" music: rather, it is simply Ben Sidran Music, forged through his own perceptions and detail­ing a style that's completely his own.

It you are a bebop junkie, the phrase 'the cat and the hat' will probably con­jure up images of Lester Young or Thelonious Monk, two famous knights of the lid. Or if you are a former kid. it may well remind you of the Dr. Seuss story of similar name about the feline in the striped stovepipe, who appears during the absence of adults to perform star­tling acts of turmoil and magic. That description might also apply to Lester and Monk, and not just a few other jazz masters as well, whose lyricism has that childlike simplicity and irrepres­sible inner logic. And this album could well be considered Ben's nod to all those cats who appeared, through their music, and touched him in that way. opening his soul and imagination to that which can only come from within.

The Jazz musician is the spellbinder, the consummate artist of great training who nonetheless still flies by the seat of his pants, taking chances and celebrat­ing life through the act of surprise. In his music, Ben often reminds us of the old tongue-in-cheek adage that 'in Jazz there are no mistakes, only opportuni­ties,' either through his deceptively simple lyrics, which detail the bitter­sweet ironies of life, or through his highly personal conception, which serves to reinforce the impossibility of stepping into the same stream twice, but the im­perative of trying it at least once.

Michael Cuscuna”

Stan Kenton, Artistry in Rhythm – Portrait of a Jazz Legend

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

“[The ancients Greeks] … knew that Fortune was an idiot’s dance, springing away, and then back, and then again away. And they knew that no one is ever always fortunate.”

- Donna Leon, The Girl of His Dreams [p.109].

With almost 40 years as the leader of a Jazz big band, no one knew better about la forza del destino than Stanley Newcomb Kenton.

Thank goodness for the many fans of Stan’s music that this talented and dedicated musician had perhaps more than his fair share of good fortune over the span of his nearly four decade career [1941-1979].

If you lived in Southern California, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, the name “Stan Kenton” was closely associated with big band jazz. It also had a similar relationship to Jazz on the West Coast during the decade of the 1950s as most of its principals had been “on” the Kenton band at one time or another.

And when the Jazz clubs began to fold and the Jazz festivals diminished or disappeared, if you wanted to learn to play Jazz, Stan Kenton’s name became synonymous as a source for learning about this fascinating form of music through the many clinics and college concerts his band appeared at in the 1960s and 1970s.

The JazzProfiles editorial staff has recently written extensively on Stan and you can re-visit these past features by clicking on the following segment links:

- Stan Kenton: An Introduction, 10/12/2010

- Stan Kenton: Innovations In Modern Music Orchestra, 10/14/10

- Stan Kenton: Recommended Listening, 10/16/10

- Stan Kenton: The Beginning Days, 10/20/10

- Stan Kenton: The Kenton Era, 10/22/10

- Stan Kenton: New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm, Pt. 1 10/30/10

- Stan Kenton: New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm, Pt. 2 11/05/10

- Stan Kenton: The Later Years, 11/08/2010

Beyond the fact that preparing these blog features on Stan provided us with a focus for spending more time familiarizing ourselves with recordings of Stan’s music, the arrival of Michael Sparke new book – Stan Kenton: This is an Orchestra! [Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press] – a few months after its publication in April, 2010 also served to further our knowledge about the career of this amazing musician.

And now, along comes a magnificent documentary DVD by Graham Carter, the Producer and Director of Jazzed Media [www.JazzedMedia.com], which coincides with the 100th anniversary of Stan Kenton's birth [Wichita, KS on December 15, 1911].

Two ingredients make Stan Kenton, Artistry in Rhythm: Portrait of a Jazz Legend must viewing: Graham Carter’s exceptional skills as a filmmaker and the film’s heavy reliance for source material on Ken Poston, Director of the Los Angeles Jazz Institute, and his knowledge of all-things-Kenton.

During its 117 minutes, the “DVD includes over 20 people interview about Stan Kenton’s career, and over 20 television and movie performances of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. [It] also includes over 300 photos and images from Kenton’s almost 40 year Jazz music career and rare taped interviews with Stan Kenton.”

Notwithstanding the fact that Graham’s DVD is the audio visual equivalent of a nearly two hour gold mine of Kentonia, the pace at which this material is presented never gives its viewer the sense of being rushed or of being lectured.

The experience the DVD affords is more akin to hearing and viewing a good story teller unfold a well-conceived narrative.

Even for those who may already be familiar with certain aspects of the “Kenton story,” they have certainly not heard it told this way before.

Graham keeps the film visually interesting with a sentimental but not maudlin interview with Howard Rumsey, the bassist with Stan’s first band in 1941; footage of Stan with a coat jacket slung over his shoulder talking about where it all began while standing on the beach sand just down from the burned out site of the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, CA [having been rebuilt after a fire gutted it in 1935, it was lost forever in a second fire in 1966]; interviews with former band members Peter Erskine [drummer] and Mike Vax [lead trumpet] explaining the significance of the orchestra in its later years, something not always well-understood or appreciated by the fans of Stan’s earlier bands.

But perhaps what stands out the most among the film’s many attributes is the way in which Graham constantly captures and underscored Stan’s humanity for I would venture to say that never in the history of big band Jazz was a band leader more universally loved by musicians than was Stan Kenton.

Another theme that the DVD emphasizes is Kenton’s constant search for new forms of Jazz expression: here again, not all of his fans stayed on board the USS Kenton as it navigated its way along the Seven Seas of Jazz in search on new musical treasure.

But this was Stan quest: it was his musical soul that was on this journey looking for new forms of musical expression.

In viewing Graham’s DVD, it appears as though Kenton was not always certain of the best direction to take in order to satisfy this search – the expression “we’re lost but we’re making good time”  sometimes comes to mind, but Stan was always very welcoming in allowing both musicians and fans to join him for the ride.

If you are inclined to undertake the adventure that was Stan Kenton’s musical journey through life, I can think of no better way of experiencing it than by watching Graham Carter’s superb documentary DVD on the subject.

Here is Graham’s own annotation about the film.

“Stan Kenton is acknowledged as one of the pioneers in developing contemporary big band jazz, with a career as band leader starting in the 1940s and lasting through the late 1970s. Kenton was also responsible for helping bring to fame many jazz stars including June Christy, Maynard Ferguson, and Lee Konitz. Many great arrangers wrote for the Kenton band including Bill Holman, Bill Russo, Lennie Niehaus, Gerry Mulligan, and Pete Rugolo.

Celebrating the 100th birthday centennial of Stan Kenton in 2011, this almost 2 hour documentary film, produced in association with the Los Angeles Jazz Institute, provides an in-depth look at Kenton s almost 40 years as a big band leader.

Kenton was a leader in combining Afro-Cuban rhythms with big band jazz in America in the late 1940s. The "Progressive" era of Kenton jazz introduced various elements of modern classical music to the big band jazz setting. His "Innovations" orchestra of the early 1950s offered up a touring band combining jazz and classical music elements and featured soon to be worldwide jazz stars including Maynard Ferguson, Bud Shank, and Shorty Rogers. Kenton was instrumental in the formation of jazz education starting in the late 1950s. The 1960s brought further development of additional instrumentation to the band with the "Mellophonium" sound, and later many works written for the Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra. Kenton continued leading bands through the changing times of the rock influenced late 1960s and 1970s.

Producer & Director Graham Carter has interviewed many people connected with Stan Kenton s life and career including Howard Rumsey, Dr. Herb Wong, JoAnn Kenton, Audree Kenton, Peter Erskine, Carl Saunders, Joel Kaye, Mike Vax, Bill Holman, and Jack Costanzo.

Many famous Stan Kenton Orchestra film and television performances have been included from the big band era of the 1940s through the late 1970s. A large collection of audio music performances are included in the film showcasing the various Kenton bands and their renowned soloists.”

And here are a few comments from the many fans who have already viewed it.

“It's wonderful!!!! Just to see Stan the Man, in all his phases, leading his band, coming to life ... it's priceless. …

Ken Poston does a running narrative (if you've ever been to one of his presentations in L.A., you will appreciate the significance of that) and there are interviews with Jack Costanzo, Herb Wong, Bob Curnow, Eddie Bert, Mike Vax, JoAnn Kenton, Audree, Howard Rumsey, Bill Holman, and many others, and film clips ranging from the earliest beginnings right up to the last band. How this was all compressed and edited into a comprehensive and smoothly flowing narrative is just amazing. …

Congratulations to Graham Carter, and thanks to all who collaborated to produce this marvelous video, which, I agree, every Kenton fan will want to own and play, many times. The music itself hits on so many of his phases! Most of us probably have the full-length recordings, but this is like a nice sampler to remind us how much we've always enjoyed it all. You'll see John Von Ohlen, you'll see Dick Shearer, you'll see June and the early band members and Shelly and ... well, get your copy and see for yourself. Make it your Valentine to yourself. :) ….

- Lillian Arganian”

“This year the legendary big band leader Stan Kenton would have been 100 years old. "Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm – Portrait of a Jazz Legend" is a great way to celebrate the Kenton Centennial. …

This film provides an overview of Kenton's memorable career, one marked by some of the most important and controversial innovations in the history of big band jazz. The story is related through interviews with friends, associates, admirers and family, as well as a variety of photographs and archival performance footage. …

Producer/director Graham Carter has done a marvelous job of gathering together these disparate elements to provide the viewer with a cohesive picture of the Kenton career and personae. The interview segments are masterfully blended into the excitement of the musical footage to keep the story moving along at a rapid pace. At the conclusion of the almost two hour running time, I felt that the elapsed time was considerably less than the actual time. That is always a sign that the creator of the film has been successful in engaging the viewer in a way that justifies the effort that went into producing the final product. (www.JazzedMedia.com) …

- Joe Lang”

“”Stan Kenton - Artistry in Rhythm, Portrait of a Jazz Legend - ****½:

Graham Carter of Jazzed Media has done a Herculean job of documenting through archival footage and 20+ interviews with Kenton alumni and family, the jazz life of Stan Kenton from the early 1940s all the way to end of Stan’s life in the late 1970s. This 40 year period encompasses all the generations of Kenton’s bands from the Artistry in Rhythm Band of the early 1940s; through the 1950s Innovations in Modern Music and Contemporary Concepts; the New Era in Modern American Music and The Neophonic Years of the 1960s; and concluding with The Creative World of Stan Kenton period of the 1970s when Stan created a record label just for his band.

What jumps out to viewers of this extended period of Kenton excellence is Stan’s restlessness. For example, Stan would do largely commercial work to support the costs for his band to incorporate strings in a 43 member band at the beginning of the 1950s, which was an artistic success but a financial failure to tour. He was arguably the first big band leader - certainly on the West Coast - to incorporate Afro Cuban rhythms by using the talents of Johnny Richards.

Throughout this historically well researched near two hour encapsulation of the musical life of Stan Kenton it became clear that he was a father figure to his band. They represented the family that he did not have the time to raise. His failings as a family man were partially “cured” by the love of the musicians he traveled with on lengthy bus trips.

Proper time in the DVD is devoted to Stan Kenton’s role as a jazz educator. He knew full well that fostering jazz education in the schools would keep jazz alive. For that alone he should be honored.

 - Jeff Krow, Audio Audition”

For order information, please click on this banner:

Or you can visit Graham’s website at www.jazzedmedia.com/

Sliding Hammers: Karin and Mimmi Hammar

Karin and Mimmi Hammar, trombonists from Sweden, performing their original composition High Altitude Delivery with Mathias Algotsson on piano, Martin Sjostedt on bass and Ronnie Gardiner on drums.