Brian Nation
May 7, 2007, 08:15 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 May:
May 1: “Flight to Jordan” Duke Jordan Quintet with Stanley Turrentine.
May 14: “The Cat Walk” Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams Quintet.
May 21: “Soft Lights and Hot Music” The Mel Lewis Orchestra.
May 28: “Jazz Gems” Freddie Hubbard/Jimmy Heath Quintet Live at Left Bank.
May 7: Irving Sidney Jordan nicknamed “Duke” for obvious reasons was one of the unsung heroes of jazz. The great pianist/composer was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1, 1922 and died last year on August 8, 2006 in his adopted home in Copenhagan, Denmark at the age of 84. Duke worked with some of ths great movers and shakers of jazz such as Coleman Hawkins and the Savoy Sultans (one of the most swinging band ever), but it was his association in Charlie Parker’s working band from 1947-48 that his prowess was established and he appeared on some of Parker’s most important discs. He freelanced after Parker in New York then joined Stan Getz in 1952. In between gigs after Getz, Jordan did what many musicians did.....he drove a cab. During this time he married vocalist Sheila Jordan and although they later divorced she carries his name to this day. Jordan’s compositions became more famous than his playing as everyone played “Jordu” (originally called ‘Minor Escamp’) and other tunes by Duke. He continued to play and drive a cab for years until the mid-seventies when trips to Europe and Japan revitalized his musical career. He recorded prolifically and settled in Copenhagen where he was given the respect and recognition he richly deserved. Tonight’s feature is called “Flight to Jordan” and is his only album under his name on Blue Note. It’s out of print but is very worthy of re-release. It’s a quintet date with all Jordan originals. On trumpet is the wonderful Jamaican-born Dizzy Reece and sharing the front line is tenor saxophone master Stanley Turrentine. They sound so good together that you would think that this was a working band. In the rhythm section is the then young Reginald (Reggie) Workman on bass and the great New York drummer Arthur Taylor. Jordan’s piano sparkles with clarity and creativity and his compositions are swinging and tuneful. “Flight to Jordan” is an earful. See you tonight!
May 14: One of the finest and sadly short lived working bands was the one led by trumpeter Donald Byrd and the great baritone saxophone master Park “Pepper” Adams. Byrd now Dr. Donald Byrd still p[lays today but Adams died of cancer on September 10, 1986. Adams and Byrd worked together in Detroit (where they both cut their musical teeth) but really hooked up in New York in the late 1950’s. As the “Donald Byrd-Pepper Adams Quintet” with a revolving group of pianists, bassists and drummers the two of them built a solid repertoire of tunes and toured and recorded a lot during their time as a band (1958-1961). Their best album has just been re-issued on the ‘RVG’ series on Blue Note and it’s called “The Cat Walk”. Pianist/composer/arranger Duke Pearson was a mainstay in this band as was the reliable and steady Laymon Jackson on bass but the astounding and drivingly creative drumming of the one and only '‘Philly Joe’ Jones makes this date special and is this band’s best record. The tunes are by Byrd and Pearson but the capper is their version of Neal Hefti’s ‘Cute’ that has one of Philly Joe’s best ever drum solos. This disc is the real deal!!
May 21: Drummer Mel Lewis was undoubtedly one of the best big band percussionists as no one could swing and drive a big band like Mel yet he never played loud or got in the way. Mel could handle himself in any context but he was best leading his own big band. Mel took over the famous ‘Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra’ after Thad Jones departed suddenly and unexpectedly. Mel kept the band alive as the ‘Mel Lewis Orchestra’ and kept their Mondeay night gig at the famed Village Vanguard in New York. The band survived until Mel passed away a few years ago. Many jazz stars passed through the ranks of this aggregation such as tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Kenny Werner and alto saxophonist Ted Nash. The band played complex and beautiful arrangements by Werner, ex-pianist Jim McNeely and Mike Abene. “Soft lights and Hot Music” describes this evening’s feature to a ‘tee’. Hear Mel and all the great jazz stars in this band tonight recorded at their home in the Vanguard.
May 28: The Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore, Maryland was in it’s day one of the best jazz societies ever in their venue which was “The Famous Ballroom”. The society, given it’s close proximity to New York city was able to pick and choose the bands they wanted and sometimes put together combinations of players that were not heard on commercially released recordings. So many of these performances were recorded quite well before an appreciative and knowledgeable audience that the musicians responded with inspired performances that exceeded their recorded output. Encouraged by a responsive audience made up of people of all nationalities and ethnic backgrounds the players ‘put out’. One such performance is tonight’s feature. It is the Freddie Hubbard/Jimmy Heath Quintet. Hubbard and Heath had recorded together on a couple of dates on Riverside Records under Heath’s name and as Jimmy Heath said, “Freddie Hubbard is one of the greatest trumpeters ever!”. Tenor saxophone master Jimmy Heath is at his inspired best here on this 1965 date at Left Bank. Local pianist Gus Simms acquits himself well as does bassist Wilbur Little and drummer Bertell Knox who as from Washington, D. C. The tunes are straight-forward and familiar to all as this was a ‘pick-up’ band but everyone is a killer in solos especially Hubbard and Heath. It was a good night in Baltimore on June 13, 1965 and you’ll hear how good tonight.....tune in.
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 May:
May 1: “Flight to Jordan” Duke Jordan Quintet with Stanley Turrentine.
May 14: “The Cat Walk” Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams Quintet.
May 21: “Soft Lights and Hot Music” The Mel Lewis Orchestra.
May 28: “Jazz Gems” Freddie Hubbard/Jimmy Heath Quintet Live at Left Bank.
May 7: Irving Sidney Jordan nicknamed “Duke” for obvious reasons was one of the unsung heroes of jazz. The great pianist/composer was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1, 1922 and died last year on August 8, 2006 in his adopted home in Copenhagan, Denmark at the age of 84. Duke worked with some of ths great movers and shakers of jazz such as Coleman Hawkins and the Savoy Sultans (one of the most swinging band ever), but it was his association in Charlie Parker’s working band from 1947-48 that his prowess was established and he appeared on some of Parker’s most important discs. He freelanced after Parker in New York then joined Stan Getz in 1952. In between gigs after Getz, Jordan did what many musicians did.....he drove a cab. During this time he married vocalist Sheila Jordan and although they later divorced she carries his name to this day. Jordan’s compositions became more famous than his playing as everyone played “Jordu” (originally called ‘Minor Escamp’) and other tunes by Duke. He continued to play and drive a cab for years until the mid-seventies when trips to Europe and Japan revitalized his musical career. He recorded prolifically and settled in Copenhagen where he was given the respect and recognition he richly deserved. Tonight’s feature is called “Flight to Jordan” and is his only album under his name on Blue Note. It’s out of print but is very worthy of re-release. It’s a quintet date with all Jordan originals. On trumpet is the wonderful Jamaican-born Dizzy Reece and sharing the front line is tenor saxophone master Stanley Turrentine. They sound so good together that you would think that this was a working band. In the rhythm section is the then young Reginald (Reggie) Workman on bass and the great New York drummer Arthur Taylor. Jordan’s piano sparkles with clarity and creativity and his compositions are swinging and tuneful. “Flight to Jordan” is an earful. See you tonight!
May 14: One of the finest and sadly short lived working bands was the one led by trumpeter Donald Byrd and the great baritone saxophone master Park “Pepper” Adams. Byrd now Dr. Donald Byrd still p[lays today but Adams died of cancer on September 10, 1986. Adams and Byrd worked together in Detroit (where they both cut their musical teeth) but really hooked up in New York in the late 1950’s. As the “Donald Byrd-Pepper Adams Quintet” with a revolving group of pianists, bassists and drummers the two of them built a solid repertoire of tunes and toured and recorded a lot during their time as a band (1958-1961). Their best album has just been re-issued on the ‘RVG’ series on Blue Note and it’s called “The Cat Walk”. Pianist/composer/arranger Duke Pearson was a mainstay in this band as was the reliable and steady Laymon Jackson on bass but the astounding and drivingly creative drumming of the one and only '‘Philly Joe’ Jones makes this date special and is this band’s best record. The tunes are by Byrd and Pearson but the capper is their version of Neal Hefti’s ‘Cute’ that has one of Philly Joe’s best ever drum solos. This disc is the real deal!!
May 21: Drummer Mel Lewis was undoubtedly one of the best big band percussionists as no one could swing and drive a big band like Mel yet he never played loud or got in the way. Mel could handle himself in any context but he was best leading his own big band. Mel took over the famous ‘Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra’ after Thad Jones departed suddenly and unexpectedly. Mel kept the band alive as the ‘Mel Lewis Orchestra’ and kept their Mondeay night gig at the famed Village Vanguard in New York. The band survived until Mel passed away a few years ago. Many jazz stars passed through the ranks of this aggregation such as tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Kenny Werner and alto saxophonist Ted Nash. The band played complex and beautiful arrangements by Werner, ex-pianist Jim McNeely and Mike Abene. “Soft lights and Hot Music” describes this evening’s feature to a ‘tee’. Hear Mel and all the great jazz stars in this band tonight recorded at their home in the Vanguard.
May 28: The Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore, Maryland was in it’s day one of the best jazz societies ever in their venue which was “The Famous Ballroom”. The society, given it’s close proximity to New York city was able to pick and choose the bands they wanted and sometimes put together combinations of players that were not heard on commercially released recordings. So many of these performances were recorded quite well before an appreciative and knowledgeable audience that the musicians responded with inspired performances that exceeded their recorded output. Encouraged by a responsive audience made up of people of all nationalities and ethnic backgrounds the players ‘put out’. One such performance is tonight’s feature. It is the Freddie Hubbard/Jimmy Heath Quintet. Hubbard and Heath had recorded together on a couple of dates on Riverside Records under Heath’s name and as Jimmy Heath said, “Freddie Hubbard is one of the greatest trumpeters ever!”. Tenor saxophone master Jimmy Heath is at his inspired best here on this 1965 date at Left Bank. Local pianist Gus Simms acquits himself well as does bassist Wilbur Little and drummer Bertell Knox who as from Washington, D. C. The tunes are straight-forward and familiar to all as this was a ‘pick-up’ band but everyone is a killer in solos especially Hubbard and Heath. It was a good night in Baltimore on June 13, 1965 and you’ll hear how good tonight.....tune in.