Brian Nation
Feb 26, 2007, 01:10 PM
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).
Recent shows are also available as Podcasts. Subscribe (http://playlist.citr.ca/podcasting/xml/thejazzshow.xml)
Each show features an entire album at 11PM.
Album features for March:
March 5: “Only the Blues” Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge
March 12: The Charlie Parker All-Stars (4 recording sessions)
March 19: “Live in Tokyo” The Mingus Big Band
March 26: “Make Everybody Happy” The MJT Plus Three
March 5: “’Only the Blues” is the title of tonight’s feature and it’s a bit of a misnomer as three of the four tunes are blues (the 12 bar form) and one is a 32 bar “I’ve Got Rhythm” tune but no matter, this is one hell of a date as it pits two unlikely horn players and itinerant jammers in an open blowing context. First is Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge, a sensitive and volatile man who loved competition on the bandstand and who loved to musically “do battle” with other trumpeters (Roy usually won!). In simplistic terms Roy was the stylistic link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Roy came up in the thirties in the ‘swing era’ and played in all the big bands including Fletcher Henderson’s band and Teddy Hill’s great orchestra and other Black bands but it wasn’t until he joined drummer Gene Krupa’s big band (all White except for Roy) that he was catapulted to jazz fame. He also worked with clarinetist Artie Shaw but despite the efforts of Krupa and Shaw to look out for Roy he was subjected to horrible racist conditions where he could not join the other musicians on their breaks on the dance floor or eat in restaurants with the band or stay in the same hotels and this was in the North! Eldridge formed his own short-lived band in 1944 but broke it up and worked as a soloist with small bands. Jazz was changing in the mid-forties and Roy was questioning the validity of his musical style until completely discouraged he left for Europe in 1949. In 1951 he came back to the States revitalized and with renewed energy. He joined Norman Granz’ Jazz at the Philharmonic (J.A.T.P.) and began recording and touring a lot. This album was recorded at the end of the last North American tour of the JATP and Granz decided to put Roy together with alto saxophonist and master Bopper Sonny Stitt. Eldridge was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 30, 1911 and died at 78 on February 26, 1989. Sonny (Edward) Stitt was born in Boston on February 2, 1924 and died at 58 on July 22, 1982 of cancer. Sonny was one of the most misunderstood musicians in jazz. Stitt was a saxophone master equally great on alto (heard here), tenor and baritone but was dismissed for the better part of his career as a Charlie Parker clone (especially on alto). While there were similarities in their concepts Sonny Stitt arrived at his style independent of Parker. While Parker’s style was marked by his (among other things) rhythmic genius Stitt while displaying all the speed and flow of Parker was rhythmically ‘four on the floor’ and closer to the swing players. Anybody who could not tell Stitt and Parker apart (and there were many) needed to have their ears cleaned out! Stitt was like Eldridge, a fierce competitor at jam sessions and could reduce most other saxophone players to a pile of rubble. It was smart of Granz, who produced this album, to put these to together as they were temperamentally matched and in great form as they had just finished a JATP tour. The four long tunes leave the horns lots of room and they are backed by the great Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and all driven by the always swinging drumming of west coaster Stan Levey. This was Eldridge and Stitt’s first meeting on records and it’s worth it!
March 12: Today is the 52nd anniversary of one of the most fateful and saddest days in jazz. The death of Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker at age 34 on this day in 1955 marked the physical end of one of the few geniuses of jazz music. His legacy lives in every jazz player alive today regardless of what instrument he or she plays and his effect on all of jazz music was profound. Tonight we feature Parker first with an all-star band made up of his young protegé, Miles Davis, and a man who equaled Parker’s genius was pianist Bud Powell who was to the piano what Parker was to the alto saxophone. Tommy Potter was the bassist and pioneering drummer Max Roach completed the all-stars. Two masterpieces are part of this session: the amazing ‘Donna Lee’ and the contrapuntal ‘Chasin’ the Bird’ plus two blues lines: ‘Cheryl’ and ‘Buzzy’. The next session was with Bird’s working band with the unheralded Duke Jordan on piano replacing Powell. Two blues tunes start the session with the oddly titles ‘Another Hair-do’ and the lovely ‘Bluebird’ then the themeless ‘Klaunstance’ (based on the standard The Way You Look tonight) and the lightening-fast ‘Bird Gets the Worm’ (based on Lover Come Back to Me) closes this set. The next two sessions ended Parker’s affiliation with small record labels. The band has two changes with John Lewis (of Modern Jazz Quartet fame) in on piano at the request of Miles Davis and Dillon ‘Curley’ Russell replacing Tommy Potter on bass. Parker begins the set with a Latinized blues called ‘Barbados’ and follows it with the tricky ‘Ah-Leu-Cha’ then raises the tempo and temperature with ‘Constellation’ and ends the set with one of his greatest blues statements called ‘Parker’s Mood”. Back in the studio a week later we start with a medium blues called ‘Perhaps’ and then onto the very melodic ‘Marmaduke’ and then to what became a jam session favourite: Steeplechase’ and then out with a blast called ‘Merry-Go-Round’ and as Parker would say “That’s all she rote”. Tonight Bird lives once and forever.
March 19: Tonight the Mingus Big Band recorded on New Year’s eve 2005 at the end of a week’s stay at the Blue Note in Tokyo. This is not in any way shape or form a “ghost band”. The intensity and dedication of all the players in this band, young or old is to perform as if Mingus himself were there. This is also the type of band that Mingus would have been able to lead had he been a more stable person and been able to command the type of fees to keep a band this size afloat. When he was alive Mingus was only able to put a big band together for special engagements and recording dates. Susan Mingus, Charles’ widow, is the brain behind the Mingus Big Band. She books dates, tours and recording sessions and keeps the band full of great players from a huge pool of active musicians both young and old. Ms. Mingus has been the strongest supporter of her husband’s legacy and in many ways she is as strong, opinionated and as passionate about the music as Charles was. The repertoire is all Mingus and the band contains such veterans as Eddie Henderson and Jack Walrath on trumpets and boss baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and piano wizard David Kikoski. Younger voices such as Vancouver’s own Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone, Craig Handy and Abraham Burton on altos. Musical Shaman, Ku-umba Frank Lacy on trombone and vocals and a fabulous young drummer named Johnathan Blake fill the band along with many others. Great compositions and the creative spirit of Charles Mingus come alive on this feature. Indeed Mingus lives!!!
March 26: Tonight we feature a band called “The MJT Plus 3” that was formed in Chicago and recorded several albums for the ‘Vee-Jay’ label also based in the windy city. This hot little band of future jazz stars worked a lot in the Chicago area and was very popular in clubs. A good sound and tight arrangements were part and parcel of this group. A few words of explanation about the name is in order. “MJT” stood for the two co-leaders, drummer Walter Perkins (born in Chicago on Feb. 10, 1932 and died a few years ago) and bassist Bob Cranshaw (born in Evanston, Illinois on Dec. 10, 1932 and is today Sonny Rollins’ bassist) were the “MJT” aka “The Modern Jazz Two!! The others were the “Plus 3”. Pianist Harold Mabern (born in Memphis on March 20, 1936) is to this day one of the great and distinctive pianists in jazz. Alto saxophonist Frank Strozier (born in Memphis on June 13, 1937) is one of the best and most individual altoists and was the most exciting soloist in this band. Strozier sadly does not play anymore and is under-recorded but played with drummer Roy Haynes’ quartet off and on during the sixties and for a short time with Miles Davis (he came to Vancouver in 1962 with Davis) then moved for many years to L.A. where he played with drummer Shelly Manne and also with Oliver Nelson’s Big Band before returning to New York. Coltrane once said of Strozier that he had the most advanced harmonic sense of all the young saxophone players on the scene in 1963. A great compliment from Trane. Strozier taught school for many years in New York but stopped playing in the early eighties. Willie Thomas, on trumpet is superb with a strong brassy sound and a concept akin to that of Thad Jones. Little is known about Thomas who was born in the Midwest and was 28 when this date was one in February 1960. Thomas had played in the big bands of Ray Anthony and Woody Herman. He took Booker Little’s place in this band when Booker joined drummer Max Roach’s group. Thomas later became a teacher and musical clinician and did a trumpet workshop here in Vancouver in 1987. Who knows where he is today. This band headed for New York in 1961 and played a couple of very successful gigs then broke up as all the players found other more lucrative jazz work (yes there was such a thing!). Meanwhile we have this fine recording of a good little band and five great players in their youthful prime.....”Make Everybody Happy”.....Indeed!
Recent shows are also available as Podcasts. Subscribe (http://playlist.citr.ca/podcasting/xml/thejazzshow.xml)
Each show features an entire album at 11PM.
Album features for March:
March 5: “Only the Blues” Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge
March 12: The Charlie Parker All-Stars (4 recording sessions)
March 19: “Live in Tokyo” The Mingus Big Band
March 26: “Make Everybody Happy” The MJT Plus Three
March 5: “’Only the Blues” is the title of tonight’s feature and it’s a bit of a misnomer as three of the four tunes are blues (the 12 bar form) and one is a 32 bar “I’ve Got Rhythm” tune but no matter, this is one hell of a date as it pits two unlikely horn players and itinerant jammers in an open blowing context. First is Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge, a sensitive and volatile man who loved competition on the bandstand and who loved to musically “do battle” with other trumpeters (Roy usually won!). In simplistic terms Roy was the stylistic link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Roy came up in the thirties in the ‘swing era’ and played in all the big bands including Fletcher Henderson’s band and Teddy Hill’s great orchestra and other Black bands but it wasn’t until he joined drummer Gene Krupa’s big band (all White except for Roy) that he was catapulted to jazz fame. He also worked with clarinetist Artie Shaw but despite the efforts of Krupa and Shaw to look out for Roy he was subjected to horrible racist conditions where he could not join the other musicians on their breaks on the dance floor or eat in restaurants with the band or stay in the same hotels and this was in the North! Eldridge formed his own short-lived band in 1944 but broke it up and worked as a soloist with small bands. Jazz was changing in the mid-forties and Roy was questioning the validity of his musical style until completely discouraged he left for Europe in 1949. In 1951 he came back to the States revitalized and with renewed energy. He joined Norman Granz’ Jazz at the Philharmonic (J.A.T.P.) and began recording and touring a lot. This album was recorded at the end of the last North American tour of the JATP and Granz decided to put Roy together with alto saxophonist and master Bopper Sonny Stitt. Eldridge was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 30, 1911 and died at 78 on February 26, 1989. Sonny (Edward) Stitt was born in Boston on February 2, 1924 and died at 58 on July 22, 1982 of cancer. Sonny was one of the most misunderstood musicians in jazz. Stitt was a saxophone master equally great on alto (heard here), tenor and baritone but was dismissed for the better part of his career as a Charlie Parker clone (especially on alto). While there were similarities in their concepts Sonny Stitt arrived at his style independent of Parker. While Parker’s style was marked by his (among other things) rhythmic genius Stitt while displaying all the speed and flow of Parker was rhythmically ‘four on the floor’ and closer to the swing players. Anybody who could not tell Stitt and Parker apart (and there were many) needed to have their ears cleaned out! Stitt was like Eldridge, a fierce competitor at jam sessions and could reduce most other saxophone players to a pile of rubble. It was smart of Granz, who produced this album, to put these to together as they were temperamentally matched and in great form as they had just finished a JATP tour. The four long tunes leave the horns lots of room and they are backed by the great Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and all driven by the always swinging drumming of west coaster Stan Levey. This was Eldridge and Stitt’s first meeting on records and it’s worth it!
March 12: Today is the 52nd anniversary of one of the most fateful and saddest days in jazz. The death of Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker at age 34 on this day in 1955 marked the physical end of one of the few geniuses of jazz music. His legacy lives in every jazz player alive today regardless of what instrument he or she plays and his effect on all of jazz music was profound. Tonight we feature Parker first with an all-star band made up of his young protegé, Miles Davis, and a man who equaled Parker’s genius was pianist Bud Powell who was to the piano what Parker was to the alto saxophone. Tommy Potter was the bassist and pioneering drummer Max Roach completed the all-stars. Two masterpieces are part of this session: the amazing ‘Donna Lee’ and the contrapuntal ‘Chasin’ the Bird’ plus two blues lines: ‘Cheryl’ and ‘Buzzy’. The next session was with Bird’s working band with the unheralded Duke Jordan on piano replacing Powell. Two blues tunes start the session with the oddly titles ‘Another Hair-do’ and the lovely ‘Bluebird’ then the themeless ‘Klaunstance’ (based on the standard The Way You Look tonight) and the lightening-fast ‘Bird Gets the Worm’ (based on Lover Come Back to Me) closes this set. The next two sessions ended Parker’s affiliation with small record labels. The band has two changes with John Lewis (of Modern Jazz Quartet fame) in on piano at the request of Miles Davis and Dillon ‘Curley’ Russell replacing Tommy Potter on bass. Parker begins the set with a Latinized blues called ‘Barbados’ and follows it with the tricky ‘Ah-Leu-Cha’ then raises the tempo and temperature with ‘Constellation’ and ends the set with one of his greatest blues statements called ‘Parker’s Mood”. Back in the studio a week later we start with a medium blues called ‘Perhaps’ and then onto the very melodic ‘Marmaduke’ and then to what became a jam session favourite: Steeplechase’ and then out with a blast called ‘Merry-Go-Round’ and as Parker would say “That’s all she rote”. Tonight Bird lives once and forever.
March 19: Tonight the Mingus Big Band recorded on New Year’s eve 2005 at the end of a week’s stay at the Blue Note in Tokyo. This is not in any way shape or form a “ghost band”. The intensity and dedication of all the players in this band, young or old is to perform as if Mingus himself were there. This is also the type of band that Mingus would have been able to lead had he been a more stable person and been able to command the type of fees to keep a band this size afloat. When he was alive Mingus was only able to put a big band together for special engagements and recording dates. Susan Mingus, Charles’ widow, is the brain behind the Mingus Big Band. She books dates, tours and recording sessions and keeps the band full of great players from a huge pool of active musicians both young and old. Ms. Mingus has been the strongest supporter of her husband’s legacy and in many ways she is as strong, opinionated and as passionate about the music as Charles was. The repertoire is all Mingus and the band contains such veterans as Eddie Henderson and Jack Walrath on trumpets and boss baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and piano wizard David Kikoski. Younger voices such as Vancouver’s own Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone, Craig Handy and Abraham Burton on altos. Musical Shaman, Ku-umba Frank Lacy on trombone and vocals and a fabulous young drummer named Johnathan Blake fill the band along with many others. Great compositions and the creative spirit of Charles Mingus come alive on this feature. Indeed Mingus lives!!!
March 26: Tonight we feature a band called “The MJT Plus 3” that was formed in Chicago and recorded several albums for the ‘Vee-Jay’ label also based in the windy city. This hot little band of future jazz stars worked a lot in the Chicago area and was very popular in clubs. A good sound and tight arrangements were part and parcel of this group. A few words of explanation about the name is in order. “MJT” stood for the two co-leaders, drummer Walter Perkins (born in Chicago on Feb. 10, 1932 and died a few years ago) and bassist Bob Cranshaw (born in Evanston, Illinois on Dec. 10, 1932 and is today Sonny Rollins’ bassist) were the “MJT” aka “The Modern Jazz Two!! The others were the “Plus 3”. Pianist Harold Mabern (born in Memphis on March 20, 1936) is to this day one of the great and distinctive pianists in jazz. Alto saxophonist Frank Strozier (born in Memphis on June 13, 1937) is one of the best and most individual altoists and was the most exciting soloist in this band. Strozier sadly does not play anymore and is under-recorded but played with drummer Roy Haynes’ quartet off and on during the sixties and for a short time with Miles Davis (he came to Vancouver in 1962 with Davis) then moved for many years to L.A. where he played with drummer Shelly Manne and also with Oliver Nelson’s Big Band before returning to New York. Coltrane once said of Strozier that he had the most advanced harmonic sense of all the young saxophone players on the scene in 1963. A great compliment from Trane. Strozier taught school for many years in New York but stopped playing in the early eighties. Willie Thomas, on trumpet is superb with a strong brassy sound and a concept akin to that of Thad Jones. Little is known about Thomas who was born in the Midwest and was 28 when this date was one in February 1960. Thomas had played in the big bands of Ray Anthony and Woody Herman. He took Booker Little’s place in this band when Booker joined drummer Max Roach’s group. Thomas later became a teacher and musical clinician and did a trumpet workshop here in Vancouver in 1987. Who knows where he is today. This band headed for New York in 1961 and played a couple of very successful gigs then broke up as all the players found other more lucrative jazz work (yes there was such a thing!). Meanwhile we have this fine recording of a good little band and five great players in their youthful prime.....”Make Everybody Happy”.....Indeed!