Johnny One Note - Tubby Hayes

The Tubby Hayes Quartet - Down in the Village

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

With the possible exception of the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, many other Jazz musicians were hardly household names even in the halcyon days of the music in 20th century America.

But it still takes me aback when someone who has known the music for a long time is “just discovering him,” or “didn’t know about him until I read your blog postings about him,” or “how do I find out more about him - just seeing his name for the first time.”

The “him” in question is Tubby Hayes [Edward Brian Hayes 1935 - 1973], the brilliant tenor saxophonist [and later vibraphonist and flutist] who reigned supreme on the British Jazz scene from the late 1950’s until his premature and tragic death in 1973 from an unsuccessful heart surgery.

And it still amazes me that anyone in the Jazz world is unfamiliar with Tubby’s brilliance as a multi-instrumentalist soloist, composer-arranger and leader of bands big and small.

For those who knew his work, the magnitude of the admiration for Tubby’s achievements was such that Simon Spillett, posits the question of “What would the British Jazz scene [... have been] like without him?”[The Long Shadow of the Little Giant: The Life Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes [Equinox, 2nd Ed., 2017]

Fortunately, many of the recordings noted in the Select Discography of Simon’s bio are still available as individual CDs and Fontana recently put together a boxed set in both vinyl and CD formats of all the recordings that Tubbs made for that label from 1961 - 1969.

Among these, my favorite is The Tubby Hayes Quintet - Down in The Village [Fontana TL 5195] and reissued on CD by Redial/PolyGram [CD 558 184-2]

There’s so much to like about this 1962 recording made in performance at Ronnie Scott's in London, not the least of which is it’s blistering version of Rodgers and Hart's "Johnny One Note" as arranged by trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar, Tubby's front line mate on the date. The only way I've been able to stay with this blistering tempo is to count it in one.

Besides Tubby's accustomed brilliance on tenor [and now soprano and also vibes], you can't go wrong with a rhythm section made up of Gordon Beck on piano, Freddie Logan on bass and Alan Ganley, kicking everybody in the backside, on drums.

Each time this disc turns up on my player, it confirms that the prevailing stateside view of the time that "European rhythm sections" can't swing was nothing more than bull puckey.

To better familiarize you with Tubby Hayes and all aspects of this recording, I’ve posted excerpts from Simon Spillett’s biography of Tubbs, Ronnie Scott’s liner notes to the original vinyl LP and Richard Cook’s comments on the CD reissue.

In my opinion, if you are looking for a starting place to appreciate Tubby Hayes, The Tubby Hayes Quintet - Down in The Village is second to none.

Let’s begin with Simon Spillett, The Long Shadow of the Little Giant: The Life Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes, pp. 160-161: 

“Eager to capitalize on the success of the quintet, in early May Fontana announced that the band were to record live at Ronnie Scott's club. Two evenings were set aside for the project, Thursday 17th and Friday 18th, a decision that yielded rich dividends. Live jazz recording was growing ever more commonplace in the early 1960s, and the previous year had seen the landmark albums recorded by Miles Davis (In Person: Friday and Saturday Night at The Blackhawk), John Coltrane (Live at The Village Vanguard) and Bill Evans (Sunday At The Village Vanguard), each an acknowledged classic of its kind. The addition of something similar to Hayes's canon made sense to everyone concerned, doubly so as several jazz critics had already noted that the clout of hearing the saxophonist live had never really conveyed itself on his studio sets. Released as Down In The Village and Late Spot At Scott's, the two albums taped at Gerrard Street that spring have since become two of the best known, and best loved, of all of Hayes's output and, five decades after they were first released, their impact is still immediate. Those lucky enough to have been in on the action as it happened were even more fortunate. Jazz writer Brian Davis remembered that there were high spirits both on and off the bandstand….

Both albums abound in great jazz, and, as with Miles Davis's Blackhawk sets, hearing one without the other is unimaginable. Down In The Village is the more varied in content, and therefore more indicative of Hayes at his diverse multi-instrumental best. Among the highlights is Jimmy Deuchar's opening tear-arse arrangement of Johnny One Note with the leader's tenor successfully contriving to marry mobility with a lustrous tone, something he again achieves on the fiendishly complex Deuchar original First Eleven which concludes the album. Between these two performances, there is a subtle vibraphone reading of But Beautiful, the waltzing The Most Beautiful Girl In The World with another sing-song lyrical improvisation from the leader, a reprise of the soprano saxophone vehicle In The Night, this time sounding more overtly Coltrane-like than the previous BBC recording, and the modal title track, containing, in its hard-hitting vibes solo and Allan Ganley's snapping rim shots, the dance-friendly elements that have ensured its continued popularity as one of Hayes's best-known recordings.”

Ronnie Scott’s text reproduced from original LP:

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH TUBBY occurred some twelve years ago in a now defunct jazz club somewhere in South London - I forget the exact location. I was booked as a guest soloist and during the course of the evening, a chubby young man who appeared to be about twelve years old (he was, in fact 15) came on to the stand with a tenor saxophone only a couple of sizes smaller than himself and asked if he could "sit-in". With rather patronising amusement, I agreed.

He then proceeded to scare the daylights out of me.

The conception, the spirit and fire, the confidence in one so young and inexperienced was absolutely astounding. In the years that have elapsed since then I have been closely associated with Tubby both musically and socially. We have played together on countless jam sessions and for a period of about two years, we worked together as co-leaders of a two tenors and rhythm group - The Jazz Couriers. I have watched his youthful promise develop inexorably so that today, he is, at the age of 27, one of the finest jazz musicians this country has ever produced, and one of the very select band of British jazzmen who can be compared with the best in the world.

Tubby's musical capacity is almost without parallel - when he decided he'd like to play the vibraphone, it took him just about a year to become not only an accomplished soloist, but to my mind the best performer on this instrument in this country. Virtually the same applies to the flute, one of the most difficult instruments to play at all, let alone with the artistry that Tubby displays.

He has topped more polls than I can remember and of late has delved into the fields of arranging and composition, once again with the success one has come to expect of this phenomenal musician. But primarily he is a tenor saxophonist-possessed of a breathtaking ever improving technique and a forthright, no-nonsense conception that reflects the man's own personality and bubbling self-confidence. A measure of his skill as a jazz musician may be taken from his recent appearance at the "Half Note" club in New York, when he played with and for some of America's greatest musicians and was received with tremendous enthusiasm by all who heard him. Tubby would be fantastic even had he been born and bred in America, with all the opportunities that country can offer to the jazz musician. The fact is he is British and has been restricted to learning his art in the main from records and the occasional visit of an American artiste, makes his achievements almost unbelievable. Truly a musician of whom we can feel very proud.

He is, at present, leading a Quintet which is one of the most impressive groups I have ever heard, nationality notwithstanding. Its personnel includes some of the best jazz talent in the country including first and foremost, Jimmie Deuchar. Thirty-one years of age and Scottish born, Jimmie is unquestionably the nation's foremost jazz trumpet player. I have known him ever since he first came to London in 1950, to join the Johnny Dankworth Seven, and we have worked together in several groups including Jack Parnell's excellent band of some ten years ago, as well as in various combinations that I have led. Apart from being a wonderful arranger he is one of the truly natural musicians who plays jazz as easily as breathing, possessed of a warm full tone, and a beautiful sense of timing. When Jimmie's lip is "in", he is one of the most thrilling soloists in jazz.

Allan Ganley is another perennial poll-winner, and I doubt if there is another drummer in the country who could take Allan's place in the group. A rarity in a land notoriously short of good drummers, Allan has a meticulous technique and excellent timing, as well as the great virtue, lacking in so many drummers, of producing musical sounds from the drums. With Tubby's own definite feel for time, and his penchant for ultra-fast tempos, the importance of the drummer in this group cannot be overestimated. Allan fills the bill admirably.

There are two or three talented young pianists around at the moment, and Gordon Beck is surely one of the most promising. At 26, his professional experience apart from some jazz club appearances with pick-up groups, has been limited to a spell with Tony Crombie and more recently the now disbanded Vic Ash-Harry Klein Jazz Five. Gordon is a sensitive pianist, possessed of considerable originality, who has also contributed to the group's library of original compositions. The Quintet is completed by Freddy Logan on bass. Freddy was born in Amsterdam, and first came to England in 1956 after working extensively in jazz groups in Holland and Germany, and has since spent some time in Australia, leading his own trio. His big sound is commensurate with his size (he is 6 ft. 3 ins.) And with Allan Ganley and Gordon Beck, he completes one of the few rhythm sections in the country capable of generating good time at any tempo.

The Quintet spends much of its working time at my Club, and this album was recorded over a period of two nights when the group was appearing at the usual evening sessions. I'm not going to write at length about the music itself - to me jazz must always be largely a matter of personal taste, and I'm a little sick of sleeve notes that would have one believe that every release is a jazz classic. Listen for yourself-there is a great deal worth hearing.

For my own part, the best moments occur in the title track, Down in the Village - one of Tubby's most intriguing compositions, on which he plays two swinging choruses on vibes, and which also features Jimmie Deuchar in his best work on the record. Then there is Jimmie's own First Eleven, a harmonically intricate composition on which Tubby excels - not in the least fazed by the complicated changes. The two waltzes on the record include In the Night, a strangely pastoral-sounding work by Tubby, on which he displays his talents on the soprano saxophone and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World with Tubby at his big-toned roaring best.

There is a great deal more Gordon Beck on In the Night, the rhythm section, especially Allan, on Johnny One-Note, and Tubby's feelingful vibraphone ballad work on But Beautiful.

This album is representative of the very high standard of jazz music that this group is producing, and proves overwhelmingly that British jazz at its best is second only to the best from the U.S.A. and whilst the gap certainly exists, musicians like Tubby are demonstrating very definitely just how rapidly it is being closed.”

TUBBY HAYES 1935-1973 by Richard Cook [1998]

“Edward Brian Hayes has passed into British jazz legend, and 25 years after his untimely death, he seems to exist as a large, shadowy figure standing over a particular era of music-making - long gone, yet almost with us. His physical presence and boyish demeanour endure through photographs and memories, and the sound of his saxophone, spilling over with exuberance, makes him vivid and alive across the years. British jazz has never been short of characters, but it has managed to nurture very few strikingly individual performers. Tubby was preeminent among them.

Not that he was much nurtured by his surroundings. Precociously brilliant as a teenager, as Ronnie Scott's affectionate original note for Down In The Village recalls, he matured into an authoritative voice as a saxophonist and vibes player, composer and group-leader. His early records for Tempo, under his own name and with The Jazz Couriers, document an already formidable voice, but it is his Fontana albums that suggest how important a figure he could have been. The Sixties should have been his decade, but it was not the most successful period for jazz in Britain, and his later discography consists of a mere handful of records that have until now never made it to CD release. Like Joe Harriott or Harold McNair, his music has been more talked about than heard in recent times. To some degree he symbolizes a lost promise which jazz in Britain has sought to fulfill.

Down In The Village and Late Spot At Scott's document some of the music of a great man in full flow, as well as affording a valuable glimpse of some other fine individual voices: Jimmy Deuchar, Gordon Beck, Logan, Allan Ganley. 

Tubby's tenor is a marvel of sheer virtuosity at fast tempos, but listen also for his soprano sax - still a comparatively rare instrument in 1962 - and vibes, especially on the title track to Down In The Village. The music follows exactly the order of the original LPs which have since become among the most sought-after records of their kind. Their reissue is long overdue, and we are proud that we can start our Redial series of classic British jazz albums with these beautiful sessions. Luckily, there is still more Tubby to come.”

Wardell Gray "Twisted"

Wardell Gray - Blue Lou

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)

 Good Ol’ Charles Schulz

The most famous music from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was originally written for a different project

Snoopy in the birdbath

By Liz Fields, December 3, 2020, American Masters, PBS

Even if you’ve never watched the 1965 animated television special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” based on Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strip, “Peanuts,” chances are you’ve heard songs from the film’s soundtrack of the same name — likely in a department store, some Hollywood holiday rom-com or around a family dinner table — without even knowing it.

The album, which includes jazzy renditions of classic Christmas songs such as “Greensleeves,” “O’Tannenbaum,” and “What Child is This,” also features original songs written and performed by pianist Vince Guaraldi, including, “Christmas Time is Here,” and “Skating.” But one song, “Linus and Lucy,” which stands out in particular as an instant modern classic, was actually originally written for another project.

In 1963, Lee Mendelson, executive producer of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” had just finished filming a documentary on Schulz and his “Peanuts” strip, and knew he needed to add music.

“I had always been a great fan of jazz,” Mendelson muses in his book, “A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition.”  “And while driving back from [Schulz’s] over the Golden Gate Bridge I heard a song called, ‘Cast Your Fate to the Wind.'” Mendelson said it was like nothing he’d ever heard before. “It was jazz, but it was melodic and open and came like a breeze off the bay.”

That song turned out to be the Grammy-winning tune written by Guaraldi for the album, “Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus.” Mendelson immediately reached out to the fellow San Franciscan to help score parts of the documentary. After working on the score for a few weeks, Guaraldi phoned him up, “very excited,” said Mendelson.

“He said he wanted to play something he had just written,” Mendelson recalled. “I told him that I would prefer to come hear it at his studio rather than over the telephone, but he said he couldn’t wait, ‘I’ve got to play this for someone right now or I’ll explode!’ he said. I told him to go ahead, and what I heard over the next two minutes stunned me. It was perfect for the Peanuts characters! When he returned to the phone, I asked him what he was going to call it. He said, ‘Linus and Lucy.’ Little did we know that years later this piece would become a jazz standard throughout the world.”

As fate would have it, the documentary did not sell to a major network at the time, but it did catch the attention of an advertising agency, whose client, Coca-Cola, were looking to make a Christmas special. The agency asked Schulz and Mendelson to come up with something pronto. After pairing up with animator Bill Melendez, whom they’d worked with before, the trio got to planning. It was Schulz who decided that the score to “A Charlie Brown Special” should “mix some of that jazz music with traditional music,” recalled Mendelson, who immediately commissioned Guaraldi once more to re-work some of the tracks from the documentary as well as score new songs for the Christmas special.

Guaraldi, who used to call himself a “reformed boogie-woogie piano player,” was a “high-energy guy with a great sense of humor,” Melendez remembered of the jazz legend. “He was very contemporary and very improvisational, which gave ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and the other shows a hip sound.”

Mendelson described Guaraldi’s music as “bright” and “childlike.”

“The same way Bill kept the animation simple, Vince kept the music simple. This was jazz that appealed to both kids and adults, that captured the spirit of the characters. The music helped make the shows, and the shows helped make the music,” he said.

Mendelson also recalled that Schulz wanted to create a scene especially to showcase Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” theme, which would eventually become the famous dance segment in the Christmas special.

As production was wrapping up on the film, Guaraldi presented the team a beautiful instrumental song he had recorded with his trio (consisting of bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli) to open the show with. But Mendelson remembers that everyone felt the song needed lyrics, so he stepped in. “Because we were running out of time, I wrote some lyrics in about fifteen minutes on the back of an envelope,” he said. “The song became ‘Christmas Time Is Here,’ which has become a holiday standard covered by dozens of recording artists. Who knew?”

When “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired in December 1965, it subverted expectations in many ways, including by omitting the standard “laugh track” which was popular in television at the time, and also by featuring voices of real children to play Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and the rest of the gang. The children’s chorus who sang on the tracks, “Christmas Time is Here” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sings,” were also volunteers from a church choir in the Bay Area.

Because of these unique features and the show’s understated tone, CBS executives watched the 30-minute film and immediately assumed it would be a flop. Everyone, including the creators, were surprised when the special received a record 36 million viewers when it aired December 5, 1965, and then went on to win an Emmy and a Peabody. Today, the special is still broadcast every year to millions — and many believe the music was a huge part of the show’s popularity and lasting impact.

The soundtrack has since hit Quadruple Platinum (over four million copies sold) and has been added to the American National Recording Registry’s list of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” sound recordings. Over time, Guaraldi’s songs from the album have also been recorded by many artists including Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, George Winston and David Benoit, who credited “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for sparking his love of playing jazz piano.

“That was the first time that jazz piano has been used in animation, which helped make it a really groundbreaking show,” Benoit recalled in Mendelson’s book. “I agree with a lot of people who believe that a big part of the success of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ was Vince’s music.”

Hank Jones - The Elite

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

My how time flies.

It seems like only yesterday that I was off to Tower Records in the North Beach area of San Francisco to check out the latest Verve Elite Edition and now here it is 20 years later as I sit at the computer to write this blog feature about the series.

The Verve Elite Edition was a series of select recordings from the Verve and Mercury jazz catalogs that - because of their historical value and esoteric appeal - were reissued in the mid-to-late 1990’s only as limited-edition CDs. In some cases, previously unreleased material was included: bonus tracks, alternative or incomplete takes, even studio chatter.

All Verve Elite Edition CDs were carefully restored to optimal audio clarity. Unlike the bulk of the Verve commercial CDs, the Verve Elite Edition were available only until the first pressing is sold out.

Mike Lang, a wonderful Jazz pianist and much-in-demand studio musician was the supervisor of the Verve Elite Edition reissues and lots of cool folks helped out including Cynthia Sesso of www.ctsimages.com, Phil Schaap and the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.

The Verve Elite CD Edition of Urbanity [314 537 749-2] also includes the tracks from Hank Jones Piano which was recorded on September 1947. On Hank Jones Piano, Hank Jones, one of the smoothest and most versatile pianists in Jazz history, was given a solo date with no strings attached by Norman Granz.  He chose his favorite standards and, with his trademark light, deft touch, produced classic music.

Six years in September 1953, Granz gave Jones an unorthodox rhythm section - no drummer and, playing together for the first time with guitarist Jimmy Smith and bassist Ray Brown - on mostly Jones originals, the three produced equally great Jazz. This music was issued as Urbanity.

In the liner notes pianist Steve Kuhn recounts Jones's recent recollections of these sessions as well as his own ideas about piano playing.

“Urbanity and Hank Jones Piano were recorded nearly four-and-a-half and five decades ago respectively. The 1953 date is mostly original compositions while the 1947 date is mostly standards.

Norman Granz, who produced these dates, allowed Hank to pick the repertoire. This isn't always the case in recording situations. Many times the producer will urge the artist to record something in particular. And often the musical results are far less than satisfactory. The artist should have strong feelings for the tunes and spend time living with the material in order to develop a very personal point of view.

So, on the 1947 session, Hank chose standards that were his personal favorites. He stresses how important it is for the artist to choose his own material whenever possible - as the results will certainly reflect that freedom of choice. All of these standard songs were written by master composers, and all have very strong melodies.

Hank believes that the melody should be stated pretty clearly initially and recapped at the end - of course, the improvisation occurs in the middle sections. He adds that, for variety's sake, an artist can reharmonize parts of the melody - that is, use a different chord or set of chords under the melody note or notes. (Some overdo this treating reharmonization as an intellectual exercise; Hank never overdoes it.)

On The Night We Called It a Day and Yesterdays, Hank, in stating the melody pretty dearly, communicates easily with the audience - even though the songs do contain improvisations and reharmonizations. The listener is really never left in limbo for long.

The influence of pianist Art Tatum is certainly evident in these solo pieces. Hank remembers when he heard Tatum on a record for the first time. He thought it was a trick recording that used two pianists at once. (When discovering that it was a single pianist, Hank was amazed - and delighted.) Tatum epitomized swing, harmonic sophistication, and technique, not for its own sake, but for the sake of music. Even on one of the trio pieces, Little Girl Blue, Hank's solo introduction reflects Tatum's presence - the touch, the arpeggiated runs, and the harmony.

Key selections are vital in determining the colors of the music. The standard key for "Little Girl" is F major; Hank chooses D-flat, which gives the tune a more somber cast. Certain songs sound better in certain keys - ideally, the artist should experiment by playing the song in all keys, then choosing which key fits best. (If a pianist and a bassist are playing a ballad together, they should consider the sharp keys - G, D, A, and E - as the bass has the same open strings. The harmonic and acoustic sound is more sonorous and profound than when the other keys are used.)

Hank's harmonies are very sophisticated. Like Tatum, he places the notes within a given chord in a pleasing way. His extensions of the chord, such as altered ninths or elevenths, never sound muddy. He has, as a trademark, a light, delicate touch. Like a Ping-Pong ball bouncing over the keys. Hank's knowledge of tunes is certainly reflected in his playing. His approach reveals his assimilation of repertoire, his technical command of the piano (listen to the solo playing on Yesterdays and Tea for Two), his taste and understatement in group playing (Thad's Pad and Odd Number are orchestrally arranged by Hank, with exposition, then solo, ensemble, and another solo, which leads to the final group statement of the melody), and his overall superb musicianship.

The trio playing here is quite remarkable, considering that Hank and Johnny Smith had never played together prior to the recording. There is a very real danger in piano-guitar ensemble playing because of the inherent similarities of the two instruments; their similar sound in certain registers can lead to one easily getting in the way of the other. But because of the expertise of these musicians, and the way they listen closely to one another, they were able to reinforce and strengthen the music rather than sabotage it.

Hank has nothing but the highest praise for Johnny and Ray Brown. All three have an obvious empathy and a common musical frame of reference. Ray has great ears, and his immediately identifiable sound was already established at the time of this record. Johnny's style is understated, as he does a lot of dose listening in order to underpin the music. In fact, no one stepped in front of the others; all worked for the ensemble.

Hank points out that the piano used was a Steinway concert grand, which is a nine-foot instrument. (The longer the piano, the longer the strings and the larger the sound board - and if it's a good instrument, the sound is so powerful it can be overwhelming. The artist has to harness the instrument.) Back in those days, most of the dub pianos were far below par, terribly out of tune. Pianos were usually uprights or baby grands. So, in a controlled environment such as a concert setting or a studio, it's certainly more inspiring to play on a good grand piano.

Norman Granz put these date together for Hank, and we listeners are certainly richer for it. The music stands up well over the years, as all good art does. This was not cutting-edge stuff in the Fifties, nor is it in the Nineties - what is important is that three stellar musicians led by Hank Jones have created music that swings, that has subtlety and impeccable taste, and that communicates to all. This is, in sum, timeless art.

Steve Kuhn

March 1997

Here are the original notes to Urbanity.

“Urbanity, one will concede, is a most fitting term to describe the aura of Hank Jones's piano, which conjures to mind the sophistication of the city. It is a late-at-night aura, generous in under-statement, deploring the obvious, suggesting rather than declaring. Actually, Henry "Hank" Jones and his piano do recall all of this. But the point should be noted that Hank Jones is not a Manhattan cocktail lounge-type pianist. Far from it. Not only is his musical sophistication much more genuine, but Jones himself is a schooled musician of great inventiveness and fertility of expression. In a word, the sophistication is no veneer, the urbanity no pose.

Hank Jones plays an awful lot of piano. His music is sensitive, pretty (but not just pretty), abundant in ideas and through it all there is a jazz beat - he uses both hands equally well, incidentally, this being a habit which seems to have eluded so many modern young pianists. One of the more interesting facets to Hank Jones is his flair for saying something new with an old song - in this album, for example, Vincent Youmans's "Tea for Two" ranks in the upper rung of most-played songs in the last few decades. "Tea for Two" is even more standard than most songs thoroughly accepted in all quarters as standards - and yet it is well to listen to

Hank Jones play this number and reveal a freshness you may not have thought could exist. Two other standards, just a notch below "Tea for Two" in durability are also to be heard here. They are "Yesterdays", by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach, and the Rodgers-Hart evergreen, "The Blue Room". These, too, get a fresh shading and are very pleasant to hear once more. Two others here are pieces by Jones himself - "Blues for Lady Day", written for and inspired by, of course, Billie Holiday, and "Things Are So Pretty in the Spring", both singularly evocative of a mood.

Jones, a native of Pontiac, Michigan, has preferred to concentrate for most of his career in New York, although he has made one tour with Jazz At The Philharmonic (and can be heard in Volume 8 of JATP) and accompanied Ella Fitzgerald in a tour of Europe. A thoroughgoing modernist, Jones has been influenced by Art Tatum and Fats Waller in the successful pursuit of his own individuality.

He is abetted here by the following musicians: Johnny Smith, guitar and Ray Brown, bass.'

Due to restrictive copyright provisions, I was unable to bring you an audio-video sample of the music on The Verve Elite CD Edition of Urbanity [314 537 749-2].

So I turned instead to a track from Hank’s performance on May 22, 2009 with Holland’s magnificent Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Jim McNeely, who is an excellent pianist in his own right.

I’ve selected Star Eyes from the concert because as you will note from the following excerpts from Ted Gioia’s The Jazz Standards, Hank had a long association with the tune dating from the time it was brought into Jazz prominence by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker.

Star Eyes

Composed by Gene de Paul, with lyrics by Don Raye

“Charlie Parker was not the first jazz musician to record this song—several big bands had added it to their repertoire in the early 1940's. But the song had fallen by the wayside before the close of World War II, and no jazz artist had brought it to a recording session for more than five years when Bird resuscitated it for his 1950 Verve studio date. His performance — accompanied by Hank Jones, Ray Brown, and Buddy Rich — turned "Star Eyes" into a standard, and many later versions even borrow the distinctive intro he used on that occasion. …

The song has proven worthy of its second life as a jazz staple. The harmonic personality shifts back and forth between a major and minor sensibility, ultimately resolving into the former, and nicely aligning with the affirmation of romantic optimism in Don Raye's lyrics. The words come close to echoing the cliches of previous "star" songs—from "Star Dust" to "When You Wish upon a Star"—but are imbued with a whimsical enough tone to make these references seem cute rather than parasitical. The melody is first rate, evoking a jazz sensibility with its alternating measures of half notes and eighth notes and the majestic clarion phrase that concludes the final A theme.

Hank Jones (p) Star Eyes - Metropole Orkest - 2009