Louis Armstrong Unissued Recording to be Unveiled
JazzTimes announces a gathering on April 30 (International Jazz Day) at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, heralding the discovery of a previously unknown performance of Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues.” Unfortunately, it’s not an alternate take of the June 28, 1928 masterpiece recorded for OKeh, considered one of the most significant jazz performances ever put to wax, but fortunately, it’s still Armstrong, it’s still the “West End Blues” and it’s the last surviving presentation of this piece by Louis, recorded while he was in concert at Feedomland (a defunct park in the Bronx) back in 1961. Dan Morgenstern, who was there on that day, will be a guest speaker reminiscing about the event.
-Scott Wenzel
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The History Of The Fabled Jazz Club Ronnie Scott’s
Here’s a wonderful documentary with the history of Ronnie Scott’s in London. My most lasting memory of the club is walking downstairs to the club in December 1984 and seeing a sign that Art Blakey was coming there the week of February 18 when I had booked him for our One Night With Blue Note concert at Town Hall. I spent the night negotiating with Pete King in the office and the result was we flew Art back for one night on the Concorde.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Earl Hines On NPR
One of our most current releases, Classic Earl Hines Sessions 1928-1945, gets the Fresh Air treatment over NPR stations hosted by Kevin Whitehead. He captures the essence of this set zeroing in on Earl’s solo work as well as discussing the diversities of each of the big bands.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Christian Scott on Clifford Brown
Christian Scott, a trumpeter, composer and producer very much in the foreground of today’s improvised music, reflects in All About Jazz on the influence of a record many of us grew up with: Clifford Brown \u2014 the Beginning and the End. What it meant to him, then, and means to him now, might surprise you.
-Nick Moy
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Nasheet Waits Picks 12 Classic Recordings by Max Roach
Drummer Nasheet Waits, not exactly a stranger to considering percussion legacies, applies his ears and uncanny judgment to this recorded retrospective of Max Roach. In this compilation with Ted Panken, Waits picks twelve tracks showcasing the greatness of Max Roach. Roach’s legendary collaborations with Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown and Abbey Lincoln naturally appear; yet some others, like a session with the Boston Percussion Ensemble at the Music Inn in Lenox, are refreshingly unexpected illustrations of Roach’s range and hunger for exploration.
-Nick Moy
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Bessie Smith: Empress of the Blues
Bessie Smith is the subject of this fine entry in NPR’s “Jazz Profiles” hosted by Nancy Wilson (who no doubt felt inspiration from Smith). There have been many tributes to Smith, whose power and emotion has rarely been equaled: an artist that deserves all the accolades ever given to her. Among those interviewed are Albert Murray, Chris Albertson, John Hammond and Susannah McCorkle.
-Scott Wenzel
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Read MoreTommy Flanagan and Billy Taylor Play Bird
A piano duo performance of Ornithology by Tommy Flanagan and Billy Taylor, from Billy Taylor’s Piano Counterpoint. Uncannily seamless unison playing in the head bursts into vibrant solos, in the inimitable voices of each player. Thanks to Bret Primack for pointing to this clip.
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View VideoMax Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite
Max Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite” was a revolutionary work when he first recorded it in 1960. During 1964, he performed it live with wife Abbey Lincoln and his quartet with Clifford Jordan, Coleridge Perkinson and Eddie Khan. The Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace was a powerful duet by Roach and Lincoln, but on this version made by Belgian television, the drummer incorporated the quartet into the work and includes solos on the first section. This video covers the first two sections of the piece.
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Paul Bley Blindfold Test
This highly extended blindfold test with Ted Panken finds Paul Bley in irascible, riotous form. It is by no means unusual to find musicians challenging the limitations of the “blindfold test” format; here, Bley prods Panken, the tester, to give him something challenging to listen to and digest \u2014 not so different, after all, from what intelligent and perceptive listeners to the art form should demand.
-Nick Moy
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Rejoicing on the Analog Planet
The analog jazz galaxy saw some form of convergence in the past week: a high-end hi-fi show, replete with turntables, descended on New York City; Michael Fremer, the mastermind behind Analog Planet, the website about matters analogic, delivered good news on jazz station WBGO about the outlook for vinyl; and vinyl lovers greeted news of Mosaic’s upcoming John Coltrane Complete Sun Ship Session release with rejoicing. Listen to Michael Fremer’s interview, waxing lyrical about his lifetime of collecting jazz on vinyl. (In the photo, Fremer and WBGO’s Doug Doyle tussle over Mosaic’s Sonny Stitt set.)
-Nick Moy
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