Wayne Shorter Talks Saxophone and Saxophonists
This 1992 interview of Wayne Shorter by fellow saxophonist Mel Martin is wonderfully in-depth and revealing. Wayne talks about horns, meeting John Coltrane and Lester Young, joining Blakey and Miles and other early career highlights.
-Michael Cuscuna
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A Conversation with Charles Lloyd
Jeffrey Brown’s interview with Charles Lloyd on the occasion of his 75th birthday is only about six minutes long, but covers a lot of ground with some fascinating stories about his early Memphis years. Scroll down the post for a beautiful version of “You’ve Changed” by Charles and Jason Moran from their duet album, “Hagar’s Song.”
-Michael Cuscuna
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Celebrate the Birthday of Gil Evans: Born May 13, 1912
Gil Evans, arranger, composer and bandleader extraordinaire, would have been 101 years old this May 13.
Some ways to celebrate: New Yorkers can check out nearly a week’s worth of Gil’s music played live by Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project at the Jazz Standard. Or, pull out some of Gil’s music at home: if you’re lucky enough, maybe Mosaic’s out-of-print box set: Miles Davis/Gil Evans - The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings.
In his frontespiece for the notes for that set, Quincy Jones wrote:
“In a little less than three years time, beginning in May 1958 and completed by March 1960, the collaborative efforts of jazz giants Miles Davis (trumpet-flugelhorn soloist) and Gil Evans (arranger-composer-conductor) resulted in the making of three landmark recordings still unsurpassed in the history of jazz.
“These albums, Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain, are the masterpieces created by the reunion of two great masters.
“If ever pushed for a choice of desert island music, Miles and Gil, these albums would indubitably be my top three. This is as good as it gets. Timeless!”
Timeless to be sure. Happy birthday, Gil.
Photo of Gil Evans by William Claxton, via @jazzstagenet.
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Remembering Chet Baker, 25 Years Later
The 25th anniversary of Chet Baker’s fatal fall in Amsterdam has inspired a number of reminiscences.
This lengthy essay by Richard Williams on his thebluemoment blog is excellent. I remember Dexter Gordon telling me how impressed he was with Baker when they first met in Los Angeles in the early ‘50s. Dexter recalled, “Chet introduced himself and ask to sit in. I asked him what tune he’d like to play and he said on ‘Body And Soul’. I asked him what key he’d like, and looked at me blankly and said, ‘I don’t know. The first note is mmmmmmm.’ I realized this guy had no idea what I was talking about, but when he played, it was beautiful, so intuitive. An amazing musician.”
Here is a two-part blog that West Coast jazz expert Ted Gioia wrote five years ago, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Chet’s death. If you’ve never read Ted’s West Coast Jazz tome, it’s worth seeking out.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Sun Ship: The Complete Sessions: John Coltrane’s Musical Documentary
An in-depth look at this new release in The New Yorker…“The album Sun Ship captures that vast musical and moral change; the complete session documents it in action, like a sonic documentary film. It’s a treasure, a joy, and a revelation.”
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Lennie Tristano & Charlie Parker
If there was ever a musician who brought a new concept to the development of jazz, one should look toward pianist Lennie Tristano. In a recent New England Public Radio blog, Tom Reney recalls, with a Birds-eye view, the occasions when Charlie Parker jammed alongside Tristano and how the two had such a mutual musical affection toward each other.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Rant & Dawdle – The Fictional Memoir of Colston Willmott
Clarinetist/photographer/writer/record producer/former Coda editor Bill Smith, who has retired to Hornby Island in British Columbia celebrated his 75th birthday with a wonderful radio show of memories about first discovering jazz in Bristol and playing the music of unsung British artists Joe Harriott and Tubby Hayes among others.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreLover Man: Sonny Stitt Plays
Sonny Stitt was an uncrowned jazz giant. Often written off as a Charlie Parker clone (as if that weren’t a miraculous feat in itself), Stitt was his own man and a great artist with a separate identity on the alto and tenor saxes. This beautiful “Lover Man” has him with Walter Bishop, Tommy Potter and Kenny Clarke. Looks like the early ‘60s. J. J. Johnson introduced him so this might have been some sort of all-star tour.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Duke Ellington’s Film Debut
Ken Steiner at the Library of Congress recently unearthed what turns out to be the earliest film footage we have of Duke Ellington. It’s a silent film and you can’t blink or you’ll miss Duke (whom you can barely see anyway), but the process of research it took to locate this footage is a worthwhile read from the LOC blog.
-Scott Wenzel
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On Bird: the Man and the Movie
Richard Williams, formerly of the London Times, is absolutely one of the smartest writers on music alive. Thankfully, he has created his own blog. If you don’t know Richard’s work, check out this essay on Clint Eastwood and Charlie Parker, and I think you’ll be hooked.
-Michael Cuscuna
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