Duke Ellington At Newport
The celebrated performance of “Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue with those 27 chorus’ by Paul Gonsalves at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival is the subject of this brief clip from Ken Burns “Jazz”. The color movie clips you see come from the 1958 Newport Festival and were part of “Jazz On A Summer’s Day”. A triumph of Ellington and nice to see NJF founder George Wein interviewed for this segment.
-Scott Wenzel
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Gigi Gryce Interview & Music Clips
Gigi Gryce was undoubtedly and a brilliant, prolific composer during the 1950s. He dropped out of professional music and spent the rest of his life in music education. Apparently, his paranoia of the music business ran deep as Noal Cohen and Michael Fitzgerald’s biography details. On this episode of Night Lights, David Brent Johnson interviews Fitzgerald.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Clark Terry: Trumpet Favorite of the Greats
This JazzWax feature on the wonderful trumpeter Clark Terry focuses on Terry’s early years, but even then, good things were already happening fast. His roots in St. Louis brought him into close contact with the young Miles Davis, who readily counted Terry was an influence; and Terry touches on his post-war gigs with Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
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Ray Brown: Chasing Perfection
The core of this compendium of Ray Brown by Ted Panken is a 1996 interview with Brown on WKCR, posthumous tributes to Brown by his storied compatriots follow. The range of greats Ray Brown met worked with is surely staggering, but throughout, he was always looking forward, in his quest for perfection.
-Nick Moy
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Read MoreArt Blakey Takes A Solo
Art Blakey, Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones were the greatest drummers of the ‘50s. All three were very different from each other in approach, sense of swing and style. What they did have in common was the insistence of keeping drum solos concise and played over the tempo of the tune. Here is a great example of Blakey’s approach from a 1965 London show with Lee Morgan, John Gilmore, John Hicks and Victor Sproles.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Andrew Hill: Legendary Collector’s Item
As Bob Porter often says, “Most rare records are rare for a good reason!” Here we have Andrew Hill’s first single from 1956 for the Ping label with Von Freeman and Patrick on saxes, Malachi Favors on bass and Wilbur Campbell on drums. The music is in-the-pocket blues jazz. Von has a great solo on “After Dark” though Andrew Hill’s organ is three blocks away. “Down Pat” has a more bebop attitude and features Pat Patrick on baritone sax. Fascinating stuff.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Nat King Cole: Born March 17, 1919
The first part of Nat Cole’s life and work on Nancy Wilson’s NPR Jazz Profile wisely and rightly focuses on Nat Cole, the exceptionally articulate and inventive jazz pianist who influenced most of those who followed him even though he was a singer on the pops charts by the time his disciples made it.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreThe Nat King Cole Trio: Epitome Of Relaxed Swing
In just 2 minute and 24 seconds, you get everything that was so brilliant and exceptional about the Nat King Cole Trio: their tight arrangements, their vocal blend, their relaxed sense of swing and the amazing bebop chops of Nat Cole and Oscar Moore.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Earl Hines:The Most Influential Jazz Pianist. Ever!
Schools need teachers. Traditions require rules. Movements need leaders — someone has to first say, “Follow me. Here’s how it’s done.”
There are only a few names in jazz we can count among those teachers. The true originals. One the most important is Earl Hines. And in our new Mosaic Records Limited Edition 7 CD Box Set, you will find his rules.
For the first time ever, you can own a set that brings together his important work as a leader and soloist spanning 1928 to 1945. This unprecedented collection draws from all the important labels that recorded him — OKeh, Victor, Brunswick, Vocalion, Bluebird and Signature. And to our delight, as we combed through the vault at Sony where all these masters now reside, we discovered 11 tracks that have never appeared anywhere.
Not only do the songs reveal how strikingly new his concept was when he first burst on the scene, but how it developed across his solo work, with duos and trios, small combos, and his big band.
-Alan Goodman, Mosaic Records Brochure
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Read MoreEarl Hines - Cavernism
1933 was a significant year for the Earl Hines band. In addition to adding the individualistic talents of trombonist Trummy Young, there was the tenor sax and arranging skills of Jimmy Mundy. Mundy’s contributions to Swing Era arranging cannot be overlooked. Rotted in the early prototypes of Don Redman and Fletcher Henderson, Mundy’s charts were a key element of the success of the Benny Goodman band (and swing as the popular music of the day) during its first few years of life (joining the King in 1935).
“Cavernism”, a tribute to the Crystal Caverns, a Washington D.C. based club where Mundy played tenor with the Tommy Myles’ outfit, is as Gunther Schuller points out, “…a major creative breakthrough for the band, determining its future style for many years to come”. This is prime example of how a more sophisticated sound the Hines band had achieved through a Mundy score.
This version, the master take issued on Brunswick 6541, gives us a feeling right from the start that this will build into an excited musical journey. Hines paves the way with a brief intro into the melody by the saxes (love that catchy trill that is employed). Solo honors go to a muted trumpet solo by Walter Fuller which is followed by a beauty of a solo brought forth by the violin of a forgotten figure by the name of Darnell Howard. (Although one can find a number of solos by this time via recordings by Joe Venuti, Eddie South, Stuff Smith, Stephane Grappelli and Ray Nance, another Hines alumni - it was still a rarity in jazz improvisation to hear this instrumental voice during the ‘20s and ‘30s). Howard’s solo is wonderfully executed and is actually topped by an alternate take that came out on an Epic LP approximately 25 years later. (Both of these takes are on the Mosaic set)
Then Hines…well, he’s the Fatha! Just before the bridge of his solo we hear one of his patented left hand glissandos rolling upward in addition to those suspended stops and starts which were hallmarks of his radical style. The background figures Hines employs as the band walks you off the floor are equally exciting and it serves to keep the wheels in motion until the final breaks are put to this early Swing classic.
-Scott Wenzel
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