Abbey Lincoln – A New Beginning

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“She was never a conventional standards singer, indicating her individuality and occasionally her disaffection in subtle ironies, almost subliminal variations and, even more occasionally, hot blasts of fury. Like John Coltrane and Billie Holiday, she was both respectful of her material and inclined to manipulate it without mercy or apology.”

- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6^th Ed.

I once asked the late, Chuck Niles, a revered, long-time Jazz disc jockey on the Los Angeles FM airwaves, how he approached programming his radio show.

Chuck replied: “It’s simple really. Each hour I try to include something old, something new and something sung by either a vocal group or a vocalist.”

He went on to say, “Lately, I seem to be playing a lot of stuff by Abbey Lincoln.”

When I asked him why, he explained: “I missed her the first time around.”

For the most part, I did, too.

If Abbey hadn't been married to Max Roach for much of the 1960's, I might have missed her completely.

Max has always been a drummer that I idolized so I pretty much caught everything her recorded; Abbey sang on Max’s 1960 Freedom Now Suite  [Oscar Brown wrote the lyrics] and that was my introduction to her. The date and the album title may bring to mind more about the social history of this period.

Over the years, I've caught a few other things by Abbey, but in thinking of Chuck Niles’ reference to Abbey, I realize that I really didn't know much about her music.

Richard Cook’s and Brian Morton’s The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6^th Ed. is always a good place to start and so it was that the following annotations about Abbey Lincoln and her recordings helped make a “new beginning” for me in terms of an appreciation of her music.

“Abbey Lincoln worked as a singer in California under the name Anna Marie, then began recording for Prestige. Recorded with Max Roach (her husband, 1962-70), but her career faded in the 1970’s until a revival of interest in Europe in the 1980’s led to a new and successful contract with Verve. Now a matriarchal influence on a younger generation of female vocalists. …

Lincoln's own emancipation proclamation turned her from a conventional club singer into one of the most dramatic and dis­tinctive voices of the day. To suggest that she owes her creative freedom to one-time husband Max Roach is to say no more than she has herself. Before working with Roach on the powerful We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, she had notched up a number of ses­sions under her own name.

She was never a conventional standards singer, indicating her individuality and occasionally her disaffection in subtle ironies, almost subliminal variations and, even more occasionally, hot blasts of fury. Like John Coltrane and Billie Holiday, she was both respectful of her material and inclined to manipulate it without mercy or apology. …

There has been a tension throughout Lincoln's years with Verve between letting her build a band of young, responsive players who can be molded to her idiosyncratic vision, and surround­ing her with established stars on the label's roster. The 1994 album [A Turtle’s Dream Verve Gitanes 527382] is an almost perfect illustration of the point. One of the joys of the record, as with some of its predecessors, is flicking through and identifying one dream line-up after another - Metheny and house pianist Kendrick, or Metheny and Barron with Haden and Lewis - only to find that the saxophone solo you've just swooned to on 'A Turtle's Dream' or 'Not To Worry' is by the relatively unknown Lourau.

Like Betty Carter, Lincoln has always had the ability to bring on young players. Like every great musician, she has the gift of making everyone around her play better. …

The voice is now so confidently intimate, so easily conversational, that it becomes difficult to think of Lincoln in terms of ‘performance.’…”

Another excellent source for information on Abbey’s uniqueness in the world of vocal Jazz is to be found in the essay entitled Abbey Lincoln (Strong Wind Blowing) by Gary Giddins. It is included in his Visions of Jazz: The First Century [Oxford University Press].

Here are a few excerpts from Gary’s work:

“The reemergence in the early '90s of Abbey Lincoln as a queenly jazz singer and the simultaneous rediscovery of the long retired Doris Day prompted my thoughts about parallels and distinctions between them. In 1991, each was the subject of documentary films: Gene Davis's You Gotta Pay the Band: The Words, the Music, the Life of Abbey Lincoln, which was initially broadcast overseas only, and Jim Arntz's Doris Day: A Sen­timental Journey, which was shown on PBS. Day was the quintessence of blonde: even her golden album covers reflected the sunshiny chirpiness of an unaffectedly sexy voice and approach to song. Lincoln had carried the banner for ebony since the '50s: "A strong black wind blowing/ Gently on and on," Nikki Giovanni wrote of her.” …

“Lincoln's most expressive tour de force was to come, however, in 1995, with A Turtle's Dream: nine originals, plus "Nature Boy" and "Avec Le Temps." Allard once again found a fresh means of presentation, com­bining stellar soloists from three generations (Kenny Barron, Pat Metheny, Roy Hargrove, Lucky Peterson, and tenor saxophonist Julien Lourau, who has listened well to Joe Henderson and Stan Getz), top-drawer rhythm sections, and a few strings. At this stage, no one was likely to miss the generic quality of an Abbey Lincoln song, words or music. With rare exceptions, Lincoln writes songs of a woman alone, dispensing ad­vice about cycles and acceptance that might seem trite if not for the enormous emotional resources she draws on as a singer and her ability to intensify lyrics with details that shake up clichés.”

“Lincoln is most eloquent in live performance, taking the measure of her audience. On record, the songs often suggest the consequence of loneliness; in concert, they are enlivened by the relief of shared experience  The long, sustained notes, often hit at a pitch just lower than what you anticipate, have the quality of elated drones. Give yourself up to them, and you are lost to her timbre and intonation and then to the world from which they derive. …”

Abbey sings “I Concentrate on You” in the following video with Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Ray Bryant on piano, Bob Boswell on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Cab Calloway

© -Oxford University Press, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

- NOW IN PAPERBACK –

"... deftly brings out the band's inner musical dynamics." --Will Friedwald, The Wall Street Journal

"This formidable book opens the door for future books on Calloway's enduring influence." -The Week

"Mr. Shipton's excellent book should convince many readers and, I hope, some

critics, that it might be time to experience Calloway's recordings and movies

again, and try to discover, in part at least, what the hi-de-ho-ing was all about."

--William F. Gavin, The Washington Times

"Enlightening. Thorough." --JJA News

HI-DE-HO

The Life of Cab Calloway - Alyn Shipton

Cab Calloway was a larger than life figure. With his trademark "hi-de-ho" scat routine, his unruly mop of hair, and his combination of charm and sophistication, he won over audiences across the country. HI-DE-HO: The Life of Cab Calloway, by Alyn Shipton, is the first full-length biography of this fanned jazz musician. Shipton brings together his extraordinary research with first-hand accounts from Galloway's friends and family, highlighting Galloway's uncanny musical talent and influence. From his beginnings in obscure Balitimore nightclubs to his time as Duke Ellington's replacement at New York's Cotton Club, Calloway crossed racial and social boundries to become a nationally beloved entertainer. Calloway was also a brilliant talent-spotter, evidenced by his hiring of such jazz luminaries as Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jonah Jones. In later years, after a stint as a musical theater star, Calloway brought his trademark "hi-de-ho" refrain to a new generation of audiences through his cameos on Sesame Street and The Blues Brothers. In this biography, Shipton brings the era of jazz and swing to life, and makes an excellent case for the inclusion of Cab Calloway among the most influential and innovative musicians of the age.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alyn Shipton is the author of several award winning books on music including A New History of Jazz and Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. He is jazz critic for The Times in London and has presented jazz programs on BBC radio since 1989. He is also an accomplished double bassist and has played with many traditional and mainstream jazz bands.

Peperback

Oxford University Press

February 14, 2013

304 pages

$19.95

ISBN13-97801999931743

Gerry Mulligan: The New Concert Jazz Band in Scotland

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

For many Jazz fans, Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band [CJB] was a phenomena of the 1960’s.

Unless you were aware of his earliest roots in the music business with the big bands of Gene Krupa, Elliott Lawrence and Stan Kenton, the CJB seemed to come out of nowhere.

Gerry’s greatest fame seemed to mainly rest with his 1952-1953 piano-less quartet that featured trumpeter Chet Baker.

While musicians, especially those on the West Coast in the decade of the 1950’s were certainly aware of the Birth of the Cool records made for Capitol that Gerry arranged and composed for in 1949-50, the general public was largely familiar with him as a small group leader.

[A sextet followed the quartet and it, too, was piano-less unless Gerry played some piano to give trumpeter Jon Eardley’s and valve-trombonist Bob Brookmeyer’s “chops” a rest].

Formed in New York in the 1960’s, the 12-piece Concert Jazz Band was really a matter of Gerry returning to his big band roots.

Renown as a baritone saxophonist, Gerry’s first love was “… to play the band; I really love expressing my music through my charts “[musician speak for arrangements and orchestrations].

In particular, Gerry was interested in bringing the lightness and airiness of small group Jazz into a big band setting; to put it another way, he wanted to bring the movement and flexibility of Jazz played by fewer instruments into a bigger context.

The Birth of the Cool sessions were an attempt by Gerry and its other arrangers to incorporate the less ponderous texture or sonority that Gil Evans had achieved in his charts for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra.

After his interregnum with small group Jazz in the 1950s, Gerry was picking up where he left off with The Birth of the Cool sessions and some work he had done for a 10-piece group he had organized largely for recording purposes.

The original Concert Jazz Band was a smashing, artistic success and Gerry’s arrangements for it just sparkled.

Sadly, keeping a big band going on a regular basis became such a drain on Gerry that he fell farther and farther away from his main purpose in forming it – he didn’t have time to write for it because he was so busy trying to keep it viable, commercially.

The writing fell to Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn a host of other, talented composers while Gerry scrounged around for the schimolies to keep the band happening.

The Concert Jazz Band eventually failed, but fortunately, Gerry and many of the band members were able to keep body-and-soul together with the lucrative studio work then still available in New York.

Gerry put the band back together briefly in 1971 for a recording session which is documented on The Age of Steam album issued on A&M Records [0804].

But he really didn’t bring the Concert Jazz Band out of retirement until 1980 and then he did so with a vengeance.

The resurgence was made possible by the burgeoning European Jazz Festival scene of the 1980s and Gerry and the CJB were everywhere, present.

Whether it was in Holland or Sweden or France or in Scotland, Gerry fans from the CJB’s earlier European tours were ready for more and so was Gerry.

Original compositions and arrangements began flowing out of his pen at a rapid rate, including a series of tiles named after famous train locomotives [The Flying Scotsman and K-4 Pacific] and loving tributes to Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Strayhorn. He also reached back for some Jazz chestnuts like I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, Georgia on My Mind and Satin Doll and gave them gorgeous new treatments.

Even tunes that were written primarily for his quartet and later adopted into the first CJB like Bweebida Bwoobida were spruced-up with new orchestrations. New harmonies and new voicings are in place throughout.

He beefed-up the band by adding a fourth trumpet, a bass trombone and five saxes [including another baritone sax with whom he played in unison on some parts].

Relatively young players like Laurie Frink on trumpet, Bill Charlap on piano and the magnificent Dean Johnson on bass were brought on the band and given a chance to shine in the solo spotlight.

He also added instruments that were new to the band such as flute and soprano saxophone, the latter also becoming a solo vehicle for him.

He sought out Bobby Rosengarden, an “old pro” drummer, who really knew how to kick-the-heck out of a big band by dropping bombs and explosive kicks and fills.

And he wrote more aggressive, propulsive and pulsating arrangements that captured a spirit that seem to say to the Jazz world – I’m BACK; Bigger and Better than ever.

This was a powerful band; not the lighter, airier and nimble CJB of Gerry’s original conception. It reflected the way in which he heard the music at this point in his life.

Gerry Mulligan was happy again because he was doing what he loved best – writing for and leading a big band.

You can hear that joy in all of its power and expressiveness in the following three tracks from the Concert Jazz Band’s appearance at the Glasgow, Scotland Jazz Festival on July 3, 1988.

Welcome back, Geru.

Enrico Plays Ennio

This track is from the second CD that Enrico Pieranunzi recorded for CamJazz featuring the music of the prolific film composer, Ennio Morricone. He is joined on both by bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron.

The song is entitled Il Clan Dei Siciliani, no relation to either Pieranunzi or Morricone; not sure about Johnson or Baron. :)

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LUSH: The Joe Clark Big Band Featuring Jeff Hamilton

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

"Having experienced Joe's arranging talents, as a guest of DePaul University's Jazz Ensemble, I was excited about playing HIS compositions in HIS ensemble for this recording. He sure has many ways to express himself and knows the right musicians to call who understand his music. It was easy for me to walk in and feel right at home with this group.

In this genre of Jazz, we are often presented the freedom to ‘play our personalities.’ You’ll hear Joe’s passion for this music through his writing. I look forward to the next opportunity for Joe to make me sound like a million!”

-Jeff Hamilton, drummer, composer and bandleader

Graham Carter, owner-operator of JazzedMedia and drummer Jeff Hamilton are at it again doing good things for Jazz.

This time it involves a February 12, 2013 release of a new JazzedMedia CD by the Joe Clark Big Band Featuring Jeff Hamilton [JM1060].

Once upon a time, the United States State Department sent Jazz musicians like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Brubeck around the world as spokespeople for the music and the American way-of-life.

Jeff Hamilton has become a modern-day counterpart of these adventures in music appreciation although his preach-the-faith-of-Jazz junkets are more domestic in their focus.

Whether it be performing and conducting clinics at the Port Townsend, WA Jazz Festival, recording with the DePaul University Jazz Orchestra or being a guest performer at the Central Michigan University Jazz Weekend in Mount Pleasant, MI, Jeff is constantly sharing his skills and his talents to make the Jazz World a better place.

Following his 2012 appearance with DePaul University’s Jazz Orchetsra [also released as a Jazzed Media CD], Jeff’s latest venture finds him back in Chicago, IL once again, this time as the featured drummer and soloist with arranger-composer Joe Clark’s Big Band.

And who better to produce a recording of Jeff’s fun meeting with Joe Clark’s big band than Graham Carter.

Jeff once said of Shelly Manne, one of the greatest Jazz drummers in history:

“I was always mesmerized by the way he played.”

Thanks to his frequent appearances at nearby Jazz clubs and Jazz festivals, I feel the same way while watching Jeff play drums.

I’m always enthralled with Jeff’s drumming. He gets around the instrument so fluidly and always has interesting things “to say.” If anyone has taken on Shelly’s legacy of melodic and musical drumming, it’s Jeff.

Dating back to his years with Woody Herman through to his current co-leadership of The Clayton Hamilton Orchestra, Jeff knows how to kick a big band.

Because he writes them in a linear or horizontal style, Joe Clark takes full advantage of Jeff’s brilliance as a big band drummer with his arrangements on Joe Clark Big Band Featuring Jeff Hamilton [JazzedMedia JM1060]. Think drummer Mel Lewis playing Gerry Mulligan or Bill Holman charts with Stan Kenton or the Terry Gibbs Dream Band and you’ll get some idea of how evenly Joe’s writing flows with Jeff in the drum chair.

The eight tracks on Joe Clark Big Band Featuring Jeff Hamilton consist of three originals by Joe, one by Jeff, and four standards: Monk’s Well You Needn’t, Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life and beautiful, ballad versions of Tenderly and Yesterday’s Gardenias.

The great thing about the inclusion of the four standards is that their familiarity gives the listener and opportunity to “set his/her ears” in order to better appreciate what is going on in Joe’s arrangements.

One feature of Joe’s writing that jumps out at you is how balanced it is. He knows the range of each instrument in the band and he reflects this knowledge by blending the instrumental sections in such a way that the sound of his music has a richness and a fullness to it.  It’s not all about trumpets screeching high notes and bass trombones and baritone saxophones punching out pedal tones.

No jumbled mass of sound, Joe’s writing allows melodic lines to play out; it doesn’t sound rushed or cluttered. With Jeff stoking the fire in the band’s engine room, Joe’s arrangements keep things simple and allow the band to pulsate under Jeff’s rhythmic guidance.

His charts follow a distinctive, linear logic with the result that they produce a rush of excitement which can only come from big band Jazz when it is performed by musicians who listen to one another and jell as a unit.

Joe’s arrangements share the solo spotlight among a number of band members.

BJ Cord, Victor Garcia and Joe, himself, on trumpet, Tom Garling and Bryant Scott on trombone, Dan Nicholson on alto saxophone, Anthony Bruno and Chris Madsen on tenor saxophone, guitarist Mike Pinto and pianist Ryan Cohan: each bring forth solos that reflect their influences while also offering strong indications of their own voices.

And then, of course, there’s Jeff Hamilton, who, along with the excellent bass work of Joe Policastro, moves things forward with his masterful kicks, licks and fills, always putting a premium on swinging.

Joe Clark Big Band Featuring Jeff Hamilton [JazzedMedia JM1060] is a treat that continues the tradition of swinging big band Jazz while, at the same time, refreshing and enhancing it with new ideas, new energies and news sounds.

Michael Bloom is once again handling the media relations for Graham and Jazzed Media and he sent along the following press release which further describes the recording and gives some background on Joe Clark’s career to date.

© -Graham Carter/Mark Hiebert/Jazzed Media, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“From the liner notes by Mark Hiebert:

The title of this album is Lush. The word "lush" by itself can describe a man who drinks and becomes flirtatious, or it can depict something that is savory and appealing to the senses. The album includes a little of both, with characters like the Femme Fatale living in an unwritten story set in the streets of New Orleans, along with some of the richest and most beautiful new music in the big band repertoire. The listener will quickly fall in love with Joe's musical characters that show us humor, heartbreak, love, and beauty as their story unfolds.

Joe Clark grew up 35 miles southwest of Chicago in Lockport, IL. After high school, he moved into the city to pursue Composition and Jazz Studies degrees from DePaul University. Joe quickly became a top-call composer and arranger for the Chicagoland area. Already, Joe's arrangements and compositions have been performed by renowned Grammy-award winning artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming, Phil Woods, and Ira Sullivan; musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, and Grant Park Orchestra; the Rob Parton and Tom Matta Big Bands; and the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble and Alumni Big Band. Lush is his first of many albums to come as a leader.

"I think it was remarkable to everyone involved how quickly the band jelled. From the first moment of rehearsal, it was clear that we were ready to seriously play...the studio sessions were just easy and felt right from the get-go. Joe's music combined with the personnel selections he made created a warm atmosphere of collaboration and it just felt natural," commented tenor saxophonist Chris Madsen. The group had never played together before its only rehearsal, and flourished under veteran leadership from lead alto saxophonist, Dan Nicholson; lead trombonist, Andy Baker; lead trumpeters, Chuck Parrish and Brent Turney; drummer, Jeff Hamilton; and conductor, Dr. Bob Lark.

Bass trombonist Tom Matta was also tremendously influential throughout the session. "Joe has put together one helluva band for this debut recording, and I am as thrilled to be a part of it as I was excited and proud to have Joe as a student all these years at DePaul. The writing, the ensemble, and the soloists are all top-notch. And the drummer is pretty good, too!" Joe reciprocated, It was a real honor to have my composing mentor Tom Matta in the band, sitting right in front of me during the session. He not only dominates that bass trombone, he's taught me so much about the art of the big band. I owe him a lot." Malta's influence was also apparent to Tom Garling, who commented, "It reminded me a little of Gordon Goodwin, with a twist of Tom Matta for hip-ness."

It would be impossible to describe the session and not mention the great contributions of Jeff Hamilton. "Jeff Hamilton is THE DRUMMER'. He is a real artist-Baryshnikov of the beat. Before our first rehearsal, we sat and talked about the charts-he was always looking for deeper artistic depths, more detail, more ways of enhancing the arrangement. He is a deeply caring and professional musician," says Joe. Jeff brought his unparalleled talents to the table along with his original composition, Samba de Martelo, which Joe arranged to feature the drums.

The rest of the rhythm section was also truly outstanding. Pianist Ryan Cohan, guitarist Mike Pinto, and bassist Joe Policastro displayed consummate professionalism and complete musicianship throughout the session. They were deeply involved with the decision making process in the booth and in the studio, always striving for the most authentic sound and feel for the music. The listener will instantly appreciate the deep grooves and artful comping.

"The rest of the band is nothing short than the best musicians I've ever had the privilege to play with. Months before the session, as I was in the early stages of planning, I was totally giddy with the prospect of getting these guys all in the same room to make music together. What's exciting to me is how each individual's personality shined through in the recording. The soloists are amazing—each in their own unique personal way," said Joe. "Recording a big band album is like pulling a heist. I had been writing and dreaming for years and since the time was right and I won a generous artist's prize (God bless Nik Edes and the Edes Foundation), I could put together a dream team. Like a heist, everyone has specific roles that need to be executed with precision and since our session was only for a couple days, everything had to go off without a hitch. So time was of the essence and I was fortunate to recruit the very best."

The album is made up of five arrangements and three originals. Joe shines as an arranger with his Nelson Riddle-inspired Lush Life …, funky second-line infused Well You Needn't, thoughtfully orchestrated Tenderly, inventive Samba de Martelo, and hard-swinging Yesterday's Gardenias. His real compositional voice is most apparent in his three originals: Red Sky, Free-Wheeling, … and Femme Fatale. The one-take performance of Red Sky most clearly reflects Joe's deep understanding of composition and orchestration. Free-Wheeling, like Well You Needn't, reflects Joe's passion for the greasy sound of New Orleans brass bands. And Femme Fatale gives the world a look into Joe's film-noir-savvy mind.

This album was an absolute pleasure to be a part of, and the listener is in for a real treat. There is more in store for this group because as Joe said himself, "this is just the beginning" of the next wave of great Chicago music.

About Joe Clark

Joe Clark is an active composer and arranger of music in a wide variety of styles and idioms.

Working with Dr. Cliff Colnot, Clark is an arranger for The Institute for Learning, Access and Training at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, writing for the Once Upon a Symphony and Orchestra Explorers programs.

Joe's music has been performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming, Phil Woods, Ira Sullivan, Jim McNeely, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Bob Lark and his Alumni Big Band, the Tom Matta Big Band, Mulligan Mosaics Nonet, DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, University of Cincinnati CCM Jazz Lab Band, Chicago Q Ensemble, thingNY, Julia Bentley and the Spektral Quartet, and players from the Grant Park Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His horn arrangements can be heard on Kanye West and Malik Yusefs "G.O.O.D. Morning G.O.O.D. Night". Joe has also written extensively for live theater and film, including fruitful collaborations with director Catherine Weidner and writer/director Kyle Higgins.

Joe's awards include multiple Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Awards, the Sidney and Mary Kleinman Composition Award, a DownBeat Student Music Award, and the Claire and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists.

A native of Chicago, Joe is also a trumpeter and director of the Joe Clark Big Band. His debut album as a leader, Lush, featuring drummer Jeff Hamilton, will be released on Jazzed Media Records on February 12th, 2013. He is on the faculty of DePaul University and Harold Washington College (City Colleges of Chicago).”

You can locate order information on the CD at www.jazzedmedia.com and at www.joeclarkbigband.com.

The following video will provide you with a taste of what’s on offer. The tune is Joe’s original composition Free-Wheeling with solos by Bryant Scott on trombone, Anthony Bruno on tenor saxophone and Victor Garcia on trumpet.

“The Flying Scotsman” – Gerry Mulligan and The New Concert Jazz Band

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Leave it to Gerry Mulligan to open the second half of his performance at the 1988 Glasgow Jazz Festival with a rip-roaring arrangement by his New Concert Jazz Band of his original composition entitled … wait for it … The Flying Scotsman.

Beginning in 1924, the legendary locomotive sped its passengers from London across the Scottish Highlands and into Edinburgh without stopping, ultimately covering the 392 miles in 7 hours and 20 minutes.

Gerry always had a fascination with steam-driven railroad engines, so much so that he named a number of his original compositions after them and even entitled a CD in their honor – The Age of Steam [A&M CD 0804].

Gerry re-established his “New” Concert Jazz Band at a time in his career when he had the discretionary time to once again composed and arrange for a big band. He was like a kid with a new toy; he loved every minute of it.

This version of Gerry’s The Flying Scotsman contains two “shout choruses:” one that the full band plays after Gerry solo and the trumpet/trombone trade-off solos [beginning at 3:00 minutes]; the other follows the solos by pianist Bill Charlap and bassist Dean Johnson, who is a powerhouse through the piece [beginning at 4:47 minutes].

“Live” Jazz doesn’t get anymore exciting than this.

The Art of Jazz Guitar

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

There’s a reason why the name for the long part of a guitar is “the neck.”

For there are times when one becomes so frustrated trying to play such an unforgiving instrument that one is tempted to strangle it by grabbing it by – you guessed it - “the neck.”

Those who play Jazz guitar seem destined to play it for how else would you explain the choice of an instrument whose sound is difficult to sustain and whose volume can rarely be heard above other instruments unless it is electrically amplified?

It’s also an instrument that can easily get in the way by clashing with the piano as both serve the function of feeding chords and “comping” [accompanying] in most Jazz groups. Unless it is lightly “feathered” to the point of being more felt than audible, many drummers dislike its intrusion as part of the rhythm section because it makes the time sound chunky and/or feel stiff.

As a lead instrument, it doesn’t phrase easily with other instruments such as the trumpet, trombone or one of the saxes.

When it does find a natural category for expression, for example, in combination with a Hammond B-3 organ and drums, it risks disapproval due to the dislike that many have for the organ in Jazz [“sounds comical;” “belongs at an ice show or a circus;” “overbearing or domineering;” “Why doesn’t someone just pull the plug?”]

So what’s a self-respecting Jazz guitarist to do in order to have a place in the music?

One avenue of expression is to quietly and unobtrusively add a “light touch” to the rhythm section as guitarist Eddie Condon did for many years in Chicago-style and Dixieland Jazz groups or guitarist Freddie Green did as part of the Count Basie Big Band.

Another is to match up with other string instruments as did Eddie Lang with violinist Joe Venuti or the legendary Django Reinhardt with violinist Stephane Grappelli and the Hot Club of Paris.

In his essay The Electric Guitar and Vibraphone in Jazz: Batteries Not Included [Bill Kirchner, ed., The Oxford Companion to Jazz [London/New York, OUP, 2000], Neil Tesser observed of Django:

“Acoustic Jazz guitar reached an apotheosis with Django Reinhardt [whose French guitar had an extra internal sound chamber, which helped boost the volume]. Reinhardt founded his vibrant melodies upon fervid folk rhythms and unexpected chord voicings, the latter being inventions of necessity: a fire that damaged two fingers on his left (chord-making) hand forced him to reimagine his approach to har­mony. Reinhardt belied the then prevalent opinion that "Europeans can't play jazz"; tapping his experiences as a minority "outsider" (he was a Gypsy), he achieved an emotional power commensurate with that of jazz's African-American inventors, and his finger-picking tech­nique continued to stun jazz and even rock guitarists into the 1960s. Souvenirs (London) remains the best single-disc collection of his work with the Quintette du Hot Club de France, costarring Reinhardt's brilliant alter ego, violinist Stephane Grappelli.”

Elsewhere in his essay, Neil points out that “Before amplification, the guitar had little impact on Jazz, with a dozen or so important objections. … not until the mid-1930’s – when Gibson and others began fitting Spanish-style guitars with electromagnetic pickups, to amplify the strings themselves did Jazz guitarists have what they needed [to sustain sound and to increase volume on the instrument]. …

Pound for pound, no instrument has been more profoundly affected by twentieth-century technology than the guitar ….”

The Jazz electric guitar was pioneered by Charlie Christian who performed in Benny Goodman’s Swing era small groups as well as with the early beboppers at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem before his death at a tragically early age.

Oscar Moore with Nat King Cole’s trio helped make the piano-bass-guitar trio a viable Jazz unit - a tradition that was continued first by Barney Kessel and then by Herb Ellis with pianist Oscar Peterson’s trio which included bassist Ray Brown. Pianist Ahmad Jamal’s earliest trio also included a guitarist, Ray Crawford.

Pianist George Shearing unique sound in the 1950s was made possible by the way in which the now-amplified electric guitar was voiced in unison, but octaves apart, with the piano and the vibraphone.

Tal Farlow with Red Norvo’s trio, Jimmy Raney with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer’s quartet, Johnny Smith with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz’s quartet and Jim Hall with clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre’s trio used “a softer tone and a less pronounced attack to mold the guitar into a cool Jazz voice….” [Tesser]

Hall could also heat it up a bit as he demonstrated with Sonny Rollins’ quartet in the 1960’s and Kenny Burrell used his “exceptionally mellow tone” [Tesser] to raise the temperature in a variety of hard bop settings, including Hammond B-3 organist Jimmy Smith’s trio. Kenny’s work may also have influenced that of guitarist Grant  Green “… whose soulful tone and ringing lyricism distilled the bluesy essence of 1960’s hard bop.” [Tesser]

Wes Montgomery also came along in the 1960’s and blew everybody away with his propulsive melodies and his startlingly effective technique based on improvising in octaves.

As Wes explained in a 1961 Downbeat interview with Ralph J. Gleason:

”I’m so limited. I have a lot of ideas - well, a lot of thoughts—that I'd like to see done with the guitar. With the octaves, that was just a coincidence, going into octaves. It's such a challenge yet, you know, and there's a lot that can be done with it and with chord versions like block chords on piano. But each of these things has a feeling of its own, and it takes so much time to develop all your technique.

"I don't use a pick at all, and that's one of the downfalls, too. In order to get a certain amount of speed, you should use a pick, I think. You don't have to play fast, but being able to play fast can cause you to phrase better. If you had the technique you could phrase better, even if you don't play fast. I think you'd have more control of the instrument.

"I didn't like the sound of a pick. I tried it for, I guess, about two months. I didn't even use my thumb at all. But after two months time, I still couldn't use the pick. So I said, 'Well, which are you going to do?' I liked the tone better with thumb, but I liked the technique with the pick. I couldn't have them both, so I just have to cool.

"I think every instrument should have a certain amount of tone quality within the instrument, but I can't seem to get the right amplifiers and things to get this thing out. I like to hear good phrasing. I'd like to hear a guitar play parts like instead of playing melodic lines, leave that and play chord versions of lines. Now, that's an awful hard thing to do, but it would be different. But I think in those terms, or if a cat could use octaves for a line instead of one note. Give you a double sound with a good tone to it. Should sound pretty good if you got anoth­er blending instrument with it.”

Following its pronounced appearance in organ trios and on ‘funky Jazz’ records in the 1960s,  Jazz guitar seemed to veer off into an area of music that came into existence with the rising popularity of Rock ‘n Roll during the same period.

As Neil Tesser goes on to explain in his essay: “It’s no surprise that the spread of Jazz guitar paralleled the rise of rock. Funk Jazz had dipped into the blues, a guitar-driven music and the primary precursor of Rock-and-Roll. As Rock ascended in the 1960’s, the guitar came to dominate American music; as Rock and Jazz converged, the guitar symbolized the evolving musical fusion.”

The Jazz guitar also fused with other styles of music as well including Indian ragas, country and western music and folk music. These myriad, hybrid styles can he heard in the guitar playing of George Benson, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Lenny Breau, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and Pat Metheny.

Of course, there continue to be those Jazz guitarists who play in a more straight-ahead manner such as Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Ed Bickert and Lorne Lofsky, Peter Bernstein, Jake Langley and two, young Dutch guitarists based in Holland – Jesse van Ruller and Martin van Iterson.

Fortunately, when these plectarists grab the instrument by “the neck,” the result is one of the loveliest and liveliest sounds in all of Jazz and one that’s easy for most of us to identify with.

The guitar is rivaled by only the human voice in its universality.

The following video montage pays tribute to some of the many Jazz guitarists who have put a smile on our face and a song in our heart over the years.

The tune is a smokin’ version Freddie Hubbard’s Gibraltar as performed by Jake Langley on guitar, Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond B-3 organ and drummer Terry Clarke.

Fabergé, Easter Eggs, Bobby Shew and “Joy Spring”

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Making Jazz and making Art require infinite dedication, skill and love. Thank goodness for the dedication of those few who bring it all to a level of genius for the rest of us to marvel at.

- the editorial staff at JazzProfiles

Some of our Jazz and Art features may be inspired, while others are somewhat of a stretch. You be the judge.

I see the world this way from time-to-time and obviously have fun developing video montages of great works of Art set to great Jazz.

Bassist, author and all-around good guy, Bill Crow is always saying that “Jazz is fun” and I am having fun combining these mysterious and magical worlds of artistic and musical creation.

I never know when The Muse is going to strike, but when it does, I run with it – hence the title of this piece which came about after a recent viewing of a museum exhibit of the work of the famous jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé, maker of the sumptuous Easter Eggs for the Russian Imperial Family.

And since I am not a believer in coincidence, the fact that Bobby Shew’s version of Joy Spring was next up when on turned on my car’s CD player after visiting the Fabergé museum exhibit pretty much decided the matter for me.

For Spring is the season for Easter, a holiday whose importance rivals that of Christmas in the Russian Orthodox Church, and the joyous celebration of this festive season gave birth to the fabeled Fabergé jeweled eggs. How’s that for a stretch?

All of this is explained in detailed below in an annotation excerpted from the current House of Fabergé website.

In his insert notes to the 1988 CD he recorded with Holland’s famed and illustrious  Metropole Orchestra, trumpeter Bobby Shew described himself this way:

"I've been referred to as an 'incurable romantic." I don't know ... MAYBE! I can tell you that there is a part of me that does, in fact, seek out moments of romance in the music ... no matter what tunes, where or with whom. When I was a child first being exposed to Jazz, I loved the 'feel' of it. I loved the energy of it ... the beauty of it. I wore out copies of Clifford Brown with strings, Stan Getz's COOL VELVET, the soundtrack album to the movie THE SANDPIPER with Jack Sheldon playing those gorgeous Johnny Mandel charts. I guess if I am an incurable romantic, it's because I dreamt, as I think most horn players have, of doing a string album someday before we leave this earth. This recording with the outstanding Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Rob Pronk exceeds my wildest dreams. The real bulk of the credit here go to Lex Jasper whose arranging is absolutely magical."

Bobby is a great soloist but he is also an excellent lead trumpet player; a rare combination in Jazz.

He has appeared on numerous recording dates and has a number of albums out under his own name, none better, in our opinion, than his 1988 Mons CD with The Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Rob Pronk with its finely orchestrated arrangements by Lex Jasper.

We located the following overview of Bobby’s career on www.jazztrumpetsolos.com.

“Bobby Shew, (born March 4th, 1941, Albuquerque, New Mexico) began playing the guitar at the age of eight and switched to the trumpet at ten. By the time he was thirteen he was playing at local dances with a number of bands and by fifteen had put together his own group to play at dances, occasional concerts and in jazz coffee houses. He spent most of his high school days playing as many as six nights a week in a dinner club, giving him an early start to his professional career. During his 3 year tenure as jazz soloist for the famed NORAD band, he decided to make music his career. In 1964, soon after his discharge, he became a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

After his stint with Tommy Dorsey, Bobby was asked to play with Woody Herman's band upon Bill Chase's recommendation. He then spent some time playing for Della Reese and Buddy Rich, who's big band had just been formed.  Many other similar situations followed and Bobby played lead trumpet for a number of pop stars. This brought Bobby to live in Las Vegas where he became prominent in various hotels and casinos.

By this time Bobby was widely known for his strong lead playing rather than as a jazz soloist. So late in 1972 he decided to make a move to the Los Angeles area in order to get re-involved in developing as a jazz player. He landed a lot of studio work and many jazz gigs, working with Bill Holman, Louie Bellson, Maynard Ferguson, and a sustained period with the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin big band. His spell with the band produced many fine albums, notably Kogun (1974), Tales Of A Courtesan (1975) and Insights (1976).  During that time he played in many Los Angeles-based rehearsal bands as well, including Don Menza's and the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut.

In the late 70s, Bobby toured Europe and the UK with Louie Bellson's big band, appearing on some of the live recordings, including Dynamite! (1979) and London Scene (1980). In the 80s Shew's playing was mostly in small groups, as both sideman and leader. Shew has also recorded many of his own albums. Several of these received very high accolades including his albums "Outstanding In His Field" which was nominated for a Grammy in 1980, and "Heavy Company" which was awarded the Grammy for Jazz Album Of The Year in 1983.

Shew has become one of the jazz community's most in-demand clinicians and concert soloists. Bobby is well known for his fiery bebop trumpet and for over three decades has performed and recorded with the elite of the jazz world.

As an educator, he's made his mark as Trumpet Chairman of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) and as the author of numerous articles and books on trumpet performance and technique. Bobby is also on the Board of Directors of the International Trumpet Guild. An important influence through his teaching activities, Shew is ensuring that, in a period when dazzling technical proficiency is becoming almost commonplace, the emotional qualities of jazz are not forgotten.

As for Joy Spring, Ted Gioia’s wonderful new book The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire [New York/London: Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 213] offers this background information on the tune.

© -The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

by Ted Gioia with permission from Oxford University Press USA. Copyright © 2012 by Ted Gioia.”

 “Now that more than a half century has passed since his tragic death in an automobile accident at age 25, Clifford Brown has fallen into the unfortunate obscurity that seems to afflict many great jazz artists who never lived long enough to make stereo recordings. Jazz fans today do not enjoy listening to tracks that lack clean, crisp, seems-like-you're-in-the-same-room sound quality. The cut-off-point is around 1957.  If artists recorded fine music in 1958 or 1959—as did Mingus, Miles, and Monk— they are widely celebrated today, but if they left the scene in 1956, as did Clifford Brown, they risk becoming a forgotten footnote in the music's history.

Yet the new millennium jazz fans who don't know about Brownie really must acquaint themselves with this artist, who was the most breathtaking trumpeter of the mid-1950's. There's no better place to begin than with "Joy Spring," his most famous and oft-played composition. Brown left behind two studio recordings, and both are worth hearing, although I have a slight preference for the version made with Max Roach at the August 1954 sessions that did much to establish the new hard bop sound of the period.

The song is aptly named. Brown's music captures a more jubilant and optimistic worldview than one encounters with many of the later hard bop players, who aimed for an edgier and grittier sound. His trumpet technique furthered this sense of positive energy: he had a full and beautiful tone, and even at the fastest tempos hit each note cleanly and with what my old philosophy professor would call "intentionality." But not antiseptically, as with so many virtuosos: his playing is as notable for its warmth as it is for its flawless execution. The melody line of "Joy Spring" furthers this life-embracing vibe, with its phrases that constantly return to declamatory chord tones, and the modulation up a half step for the second eight bars—a common arranger's device for making a chart seem brighter and more insistent, but one that is rarely written into the lead sheet of a modern jazz combo tune. …”

And we located this synopsis of Fabergé’s career on the current House of Fabergé website.

© -Excerpted from www.faberge.com, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“The series of lavish Easter eggs created by Fabergé for the Russian Imperial family, between 1885 and 1916, against an extraordinary historical backdrop, is regarded as the artist-goldsmith’s greatest and most enduring achievement.

The Imperial Easter eggs are certainly the most celebrated and awe-inspiring of all Fabergé works of art, inextricably bound to the Fabergé name and legend. They are also considered as some of the last great commissions of objets d’art.

The story began when Tsar Alexander III decided to give a jewelled Easter egg to his wife the Empress Marie Fedorovna, in 1885, possibly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their betrothal.

It is believed that the Tsar, who had first become acquainted with Fabergé’s virtuoso work at the Moscow Pan-Russian Exhibition in 1882, was inspired by an 18th century egg owned by the Empress’s aunt, Princess Wilhelmine Marie of Denmark.

The object was said to have captivated the imagination of the young Maria during her childhood in Denmark. Tsar Alexander was apparently involved in the design and execution of the egg, making suggestions to Fabergé as the project went along.

Easter was the most important occasion of the year in the Russian Orthodox Church, equivalent to Christmas in the West. A centuries-old tradition of bringing hand-coloured eggs to Church to be blessed and then presented to friends and family, had evolved through the years and, amongst the highest echelons of St Petersburg society, the custom developed of presenting valuably bejewelled Easter gifts.

So it was that Tsar Alexander III had the idea of commissioning Fabergé to create a precious Easter egg as a surprise for the Empress, and thus the first Imperial Easter egg was born.

Known as the Hen Egg, it is crafted from gold, its opaque white enamelled ‘shell’ opening to reveal its first surprise, a matt yellow gold yolk. This in turn opens to reveal a multi-coloured, superbly chased gold hen that also opens. Originally, this contained a minute diamond replica of the Imperial Crown from which a small ruby pendant egg was suspended. Unfortunately these last two surprises have been lost.

The Empress’s delight at this intriguing gift with its hidden jewelled surprises was the starting point for the yearly Imperial tradition that continued for 32 years until 1917 and produced the most opulent and captivating Easter gifts the world has ever seen. The eggs were private and personal gifts, and the whole spectacular series charted the romantic and tragic story leading up to the end of the mighty Romanovs.

Each egg, an artistic tour de force, took a year or more to make, involving a team of highly skilled craftsmen, who worked in the greatest secrecy. Fabergé was given complete freedom in the design and execution, with the only prerequisite being that there had to be surprise within each creation. Dreaming up each complex concept, Fabergé often drew on family ties, events in Imperial Court life, or the milestones and achievements of the Romanov dynasty, as in the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg of 1911, commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of Nicholas II’s accession to the throne, or the Romanov Tercentenary Egg of 1913 that celebrated 300 years of the House of Romanov, showing portrait miniatures of the Russian dynastic rulers.

Although the theme of the Easter eggs changed annually, the element of surprise remained a constant link between them. The surprises ranged from a perfect miniature replica of the Coronation carriage - that took 15 months to make working 16-hour days - through a mechanical swan and an ivory elephant, to a heart-shaped frame on an easel with 11 miniature portraits of members of the Imperial family.

Alexander III presented an egg each year to his wife the Empress Marie Fedorovna and the tradition was continued, from 1895, by his son Nicholas II who presented an egg annually to both his wife the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna and to his mother the Dowager Empress Marie Fedorovna. However, there were no presentations during 1904 and 1905 because of political unrest and the Russo-Japanese War.

The most expensive was the 1913 Winter Egg, which was invoiced at 24,600 roubles (then £2,460). Prior to the Great War, a room at Claridges was 10 shillings (50 pence) a night compared to approximately £380 today. Using this yardstick, the egg would have cost £1.87 million in today’s money.

The Winter Egg, designed by Alma Pihl, famed for her series of diamond snowflakes, is made of carved rock crystal as thin as glass. This is embellished with engraving, and ornamented with platinum and diamonds, to resemble frost. The egg rests on a rock-crystal base designed as a block of melting ice. Its surprise is a magnificent and platinum basket of exuberant wood anemones. The flowers are made from white quartz, nephrite, gold and demantoid garnets and they emerge from moss made of green gold. Its overall height is 14.2cm. It is set with 3,246 diamonds. The egg sold at Christie’s in New York in 2002 for US$9.6 million.

Of the 50 eggs Fabergé made for the Imperial family from 1885 through to 1916, 42 have survived.”

Bobby’s brilliant trumpet playing and the stunning Fabergé jeweled eggs along with other works of art by his studio are all on display in the following video tribute to both of them.

Making Jazz and making Art require infinite dedication, skill and love.

Thank goodness for the dedication of those few who bring it all to a level of genius for the rest of us to marvel at.