Brian Nation
Jul 22, 2006, 11:54 AM
Gavin Walker's "The Jazz Show" is heard Mondays 9PM to midnight on CITR (http://www.citr.ca/) 101.9 FM and online (http://www.citr.ca/default.asp?id=19&mnu=19). Each show features an entire album at 11PM.
August 7: The Jazz Show continues in a birthday mode as it seems that this year so many important birthdays fall on a Monday so why not celebrate! Tonight is the birthday of one of the most unique and amazing musicians of the 20th century.....Rahsaan Roland Kirk would have been 70 today. He was born on this day in 1936 in Columbus, Ohio and died on December 5, 1977 after a series of strokes. He was only 41 but his place in jazz history has preserved and deserved. Kirk’s history is fairly well known and we know that he was blind soon after birth. He was educated at the Ohio State School for the Blind and learned the tenor saxophone (which was his main horn) and the clarinet. By the time he was 13 he was playing for dances and led his own groups. When he was 16 he had a dream that he was playing three saxophones at once. His dream became a reality when on a visit to a music store he found a couple of obsolete saxophones called the manzello (which resembled an alto but sounded more like a soprano) and the stritch (which in reality was a straight alto and sounded close to a regular alto). These horns were used in turn of the century Spanish military bands. Kirk figured out a way to finger all three horns (in one mouth) and play harmony parts and sound like a saxophone section. He also used whistles and sirens and added the flute to all his horns. His first album for King Records was poorly distributed and attracted little notice (it is a fine record that only hints at things to come). His album for Argo/Cadet was sponsored by Ramsey Lewis and called “Introducing Roland Kirk” was a smash and brought out all the supporters and the knockers. His detractors said that Kirk was nothing but a circus performer and a jiver but he proved them dead wrong. After the “introducing” album he signed with Mercury and made a long series of great recordings. He worked with Charles Mingus in 1961 and made a famous recording with Mingus called “Oh Yeah!” and led his own groups touring America and Europe. Kirk was a living history of jazz and could play in any style and know ho everything was connected and everything he did (no matter how strange) had a musical purpose. The likes of a musician like Roland Kirk comes along once in a lifetime and we should all be glad that we can listen to his sounds via albums and those of us who saw him in person will never forget the experience. Kirk did play in Vancouver in 1970 at the ‘Riverqueen’ (a club owned by Ron and Shirley Small) on Davie and Vancouver was never the same! Tonight’s feature is one of Kirk’s finest and is called “Rip, Rig, and Panic”. It features Kirk and all of his horns playing with one of the finest rhythm sections ever. Jaki Byard on piano serves as Kirk’s alter-ego as Byard has the same respect for jazz history as Kirk and they mesh perfectly. Richard Davis is on bass and the great Elvin Jones is a total powerhouse. All moods are explored here and this date stands as one of Kirk’s peaks. Happy birthday Mr. Kirk – your sounds are forever.
August 14: Gavin has the night off but the show continues as usual with guest host Charles Burnham.
August 21: William “Count” Basie is really one of the founding fathers of jazz and an institution. Basie today would have been 102 years old. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey on this day in 1904 and died on the 26th of April 1984. Basie was a very accomplished pianist and organist and at a very early age began working locally in New Jersey and New York City and then made to move to Kansas City where he freelanced and then joined bassist Walter Page’s “Blue Devils” which melded into Benny Moten’s band and when Moten died in 1935 Basie took over. The band was full of jazz stars.....tenor saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, drummer Jo Jones et al. headed for New York and the rest is history. What was called “The Old Testament” came to an end in 1950 when the big band ear was over. It was a great band and was a soloist’s band. Basie led a small group for a couple of years then reformed his 16 man band in 1952 which became known in Basie lore as “The New Testament”. The band always had great players and great soloists but the “New Testament” band was more highly arranged and focused. Basie employed the talents of Benny Carter, Ernie Wilkins, Sammy Nestico, Quincy Jones and many others to write for the band but it always sounded like the Basie Band and it always swung. Without a doubt the best arranger to write for Basie was Neal Hefti. Hefti was a competent trumpet player and wrote for many of the big bands that he was in Nat Towles and Earl Hines’ bands and on to Charlie Barnet’s band and most famously Woody Herman’s first and second herds. He wrote for films and television but his best writing was for Basie. That is what we are featuring tonight to honour Count Basie. The famous “Atomic Bomb” sessions that put Basie’s band together with Hefti’s compositions and arrangements. Great soloists abound and the band is totally inspired. Basie meets Hefti E=MC2.
August 28: Our final birthday celebration is for Kenneth Sidney Drew. Pianist/composer Kenny Drew was born in New York City on this day in 1928 and died in his adopted hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark on august 4, 1993. Drew grew up in the same neighbourhood as Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Walker Bishop Jr., and Arthur Taylor. Kenny’s early gigs were with Lester Young and he performed on Sonny Rollins’ first album under his own name in 1951. Drew worked for many bandleaders, J. J. Johnson, Miles Davis on so on. Kenny recorded his debut album for Blue Note in 1953 and another for Norman Granz’ ‘Norgran’ label that same year. Drew headed to Los Angeles with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco’s group and settled there before returning to New York where he recorded many albums as a sideman including most famously on John Coltrane’s “Blue Train”. Kenny continued to freelance and record on many important dates and finally got his own session on Blue Note which is our feature tonight. It was a quintet date called “Undercurrent”. It was Drew’s last recording before leaving for Europe. Kenny was unhappy in the USA with it’s racist attitudes and deeply saddened with the way the USA treated it’s artists. This along with a marriage breakup and some tax problems, Drew pulled up stake and moved to Copenhagen where he was based for the rest of his life. Drew recorded prolifically while there and enjoyed a racist free environment, re-married and had a son (pianist Kenny Drew Jr.). Drew enjoyed a healthy and productive life and even returned to the States to perform and record more than a few times. The feature album “Undercurrent” has only once been issued domestically on CD and is crying for an “RVG” or a “Connoisseur” issue as it is a superb sessions made up of Kenny’s original tunes. Although it’s a record session it sounds like a working band. Hank Mobley on tenor and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet make up the front line and Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums burn as a rhythm section. The album smokes from start to finish and is a great testament to the talents of Kenny Drew who would be celebrating his 78th birthday today.
August 7: The Jazz Show continues in a birthday mode as it seems that this year so many important birthdays fall on a Monday so why not celebrate! Tonight is the birthday of one of the most unique and amazing musicians of the 20th century.....Rahsaan Roland Kirk would have been 70 today. He was born on this day in 1936 in Columbus, Ohio and died on December 5, 1977 after a series of strokes. He was only 41 but his place in jazz history has preserved and deserved. Kirk’s history is fairly well known and we know that he was blind soon after birth. He was educated at the Ohio State School for the Blind and learned the tenor saxophone (which was his main horn) and the clarinet. By the time he was 13 he was playing for dances and led his own groups. When he was 16 he had a dream that he was playing three saxophones at once. His dream became a reality when on a visit to a music store he found a couple of obsolete saxophones called the manzello (which resembled an alto but sounded more like a soprano) and the stritch (which in reality was a straight alto and sounded close to a regular alto). These horns were used in turn of the century Spanish military bands. Kirk figured out a way to finger all three horns (in one mouth) and play harmony parts and sound like a saxophone section. He also used whistles and sirens and added the flute to all his horns. His first album for King Records was poorly distributed and attracted little notice (it is a fine record that only hints at things to come). His album for Argo/Cadet was sponsored by Ramsey Lewis and called “Introducing Roland Kirk” was a smash and brought out all the supporters and the knockers. His detractors said that Kirk was nothing but a circus performer and a jiver but he proved them dead wrong. After the “introducing” album he signed with Mercury and made a long series of great recordings. He worked with Charles Mingus in 1961 and made a famous recording with Mingus called “Oh Yeah!” and led his own groups touring America and Europe. Kirk was a living history of jazz and could play in any style and know ho everything was connected and everything he did (no matter how strange) had a musical purpose. The likes of a musician like Roland Kirk comes along once in a lifetime and we should all be glad that we can listen to his sounds via albums and those of us who saw him in person will never forget the experience. Kirk did play in Vancouver in 1970 at the ‘Riverqueen’ (a club owned by Ron and Shirley Small) on Davie and Vancouver was never the same! Tonight’s feature is one of Kirk’s finest and is called “Rip, Rig, and Panic”. It features Kirk and all of his horns playing with one of the finest rhythm sections ever. Jaki Byard on piano serves as Kirk’s alter-ego as Byard has the same respect for jazz history as Kirk and they mesh perfectly. Richard Davis is on bass and the great Elvin Jones is a total powerhouse. All moods are explored here and this date stands as one of Kirk’s peaks. Happy birthday Mr. Kirk – your sounds are forever.
August 14: Gavin has the night off but the show continues as usual with guest host Charles Burnham.
August 21: William “Count” Basie is really one of the founding fathers of jazz and an institution. Basie today would have been 102 years old. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey on this day in 1904 and died on the 26th of April 1984. Basie was a very accomplished pianist and organist and at a very early age began working locally in New Jersey and New York City and then made to move to Kansas City where he freelanced and then joined bassist Walter Page’s “Blue Devils” which melded into Benny Moten’s band and when Moten died in 1935 Basie took over. The band was full of jazz stars.....tenor saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, drummer Jo Jones et al. headed for New York and the rest is history. What was called “The Old Testament” came to an end in 1950 when the big band ear was over. It was a great band and was a soloist’s band. Basie led a small group for a couple of years then reformed his 16 man band in 1952 which became known in Basie lore as “The New Testament”. The band always had great players and great soloists but the “New Testament” band was more highly arranged and focused. Basie employed the talents of Benny Carter, Ernie Wilkins, Sammy Nestico, Quincy Jones and many others to write for the band but it always sounded like the Basie Band and it always swung. Without a doubt the best arranger to write for Basie was Neal Hefti. Hefti was a competent trumpet player and wrote for many of the big bands that he was in Nat Towles and Earl Hines’ bands and on to Charlie Barnet’s band and most famously Woody Herman’s first and second herds. He wrote for films and television but his best writing was for Basie. That is what we are featuring tonight to honour Count Basie. The famous “Atomic Bomb” sessions that put Basie’s band together with Hefti’s compositions and arrangements. Great soloists abound and the band is totally inspired. Basie meets Hefti E=MC2.
August 28: Our final birthday celebration is for Kenneth Sidney Drew. Pianist/composer Kenny Drew was born in New York City on this day in 1928 and died in his adopted hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark on august 4, 1993. Drew grew up in the same neighbourhood as Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Walker Bishop Jr., and Arthur Taylor. Kenny’s early gigs were with Lester Young and he performed on Sonny Rollins’ first album under his own name in 1951. Drew worked for many bandleaders, J. J. Johnson, Miles Davis on so on. Kenny recorded his debut album for Blue Note in 1953 and another for Norman Granz’ ‘Norgran’ label that same year. Drew headed to Los Angeles with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco’s group and settled there before returning to New York where he recorded many albums as a sideman including most famously on John Coltrane’s “Blue Train”. Kenny continued to freelance and record on many important dates and finally got his own session on Blue Note which is our feature tonight. It was a quintet date called “Undercurrent”. It was Drew’s last recording before leaving for Europe. Kenny was unhappy in the USA with it’s racist attitudes and deeply saddened with the way the USA treated it’s artists. This along with a marriage breakup and some tax problems, Drew pulled up stake and moved to Copenhagen where he was based for the rest of his life. Drew recorded prolifically while there and enjoyed a racist free environment, re-married and had a son (pianist Kenny Drew Jr.). Drew enjoyed a healthy and productive life and even returned to the States to perform and record more than a few times. The feature album “Undercurrent” has only once been issued domestically on CD and is crying for an “RVG” or a “Connoisseur” issue as it is a superb sessions made up of Kenny’s original tunes. Although it’s a record session it sounds like a working band. Hank Mobley on tenor and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet make up the front line and Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums burn as a rhythm section. The album smokes from start to finish and is a great testament to the talents of Kenny Drew who would be celebrating his 78th birthday today.