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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51117883455645828782014-08-29T04:35:35.315+01:00Easy does itA blog about the sounds of surpriseFernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-89557845850362635992014-08-23T09:00:00.000+01:002014-08-23T09:00:01.196+01:00Brad Mehldau: the early years

El joven Brad Mehldau por John Abbott

Brad Mehldau is 44 today, which means that it's about twenty years since he first blipped in the radar, possibly, when he first recorded for a major label, Warner, as a sideman of Joshua Redman's, with whom he also toured the world that year.

Joshua Redman - ts, Brad Mehldau - p, Christian McBride - b, Brian Blade - d
San Sebastián (Spain) - July 25th, 1994

Since then, with this Art of the Trio series with Jorge Rossy and Larry Grenadier he made the classic piano trio fashionable and trendy, becoming one of the main young stars of jazz, a coop he has already flown. Even though he maintains his classic piano trio active, he's also involved in other projects that defy categorization. And more power to him for that.

With that feeble excuse of an anniversary, I give you a few snippets of his hard-core jazz days. First, from his earliest trio effort on record for Spanish label Fresh Sound of Barcelona, "Anthropology" (of which you can follow a transcription here), where he spends the first two minutes playing, amazingly, in octaves.

Brad Mehldau - p, Mario Rossy - b, Jorge Rossy - drums
At the Cova del Drac, Barcelona - October 9 or 10, 1993

This should satisfy the dues inspectors and bebop chops auditors. The rest of us mere humans will be just glad to listen to this, I hope.

For more early Mehldau, you can either check this Spotify playlist (based on this discography), or the collection of this Mehldau fan in YouTube. Regarding the trio of drummer Leon Parker with Ugonna Okegwo on bass that turns up among those YouTube videos, apart from the audio, we're fortunate to have footage of that gig at the Village Gate in New York, circa 1992, courtesy of the family of Art D'Lugoff, founder and original owner of the legendary club.

Mehldau must be about 22 here...

Post by Raphael D'Lugoff.

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-7145731580532823732014-07-25T10:30:00.000+01:002014-07-25T14:51:08.585+01:00Reg Kehoe, the Marimba Queens... and that bass

Source: ... tapewrekcs ...

Although posterity is, generally, a just filter, it's still a filter. Like the scale of a map reproduces geography, it simplifies and narrows reality. Therefore, whatever reaches us music fans from the past is just a modicum of material with almost undeniable artistic value but subject to legal and corporate considerations: who has the material, and whether they have the rights to publish it. Or the resources. Or the will to do it.

Let this solemn introduction give way to what will be the most absurd video ever in these pages. In 1944 (according to IMDB), percussionist Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens, recorded the fourth and last segment of a soundie (the grandfather of video clips) entitled A Study in Brown, directed by Ben K. Blake for the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America. The orchestra was formed by Kehoe, seven percussionist ladies, plus the exuberant double bassist Frank Di Nunzio, Sr. There's not much left to say regarding the music. As for their popularity, they are mentioned in several issues of Billboard, mostly in the 1940s.

That decade is a fascinating period in the music of the USA. The first half is dominated by the largest war in history, with male personnel mobilized, the rationing of certain goods and services, a musicians' strike, and the explosion of the two first atomic bombs, all of which may explain the sense of freedom when it came to make music, from Spike Jones to Alec Wilder to John Cage to Boyd Raeburn... to Frank Di Nunzio predating rockabilly. What is surprising in Kehoe's case, is that, according to his Wiki page (where the complete personnel for the band is given), his orchestra lasted from the 1930s up to 1962. They came from Pennsylvania, land of polkas among other things, and, as removed as the images may seem from us today, apparently Di Nunzio was still slapping that bass ten years ago (he passed away in 2005).

This sound has been quite popular in social networks, where it has been almost always shown in reverse (and such is the nerdish nature of this writer that he cannot stand the sight of another "inverted" marimba or vibraphone). Fittingly for such an absurd enterprise, the minute I finished editing the video below (taken from this copy), I found several versions almost identical (although the image in mine seems to be more stable). That said, and going back to the first paragraph, let this be a reminder that not all oldies are goldies.

Enjoy! (Or maybe not.)

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-73565576320740927512014-07-17T13:00:00.000+01:002014-07-17T15:35:57.755+01:00Remembering Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

"I just hope I'm remembered as a good blues musician."

—Johnny Winter, just a month ago, here.

With his mane of white hair and willowy constitution, Johnny Winter was very easy to spot. He was also one of the true electric guitar heroes. He's passed away while on tour in Zurich, Switzerland, on July 16 according to his representative. He was 70.

Given his longevity and visibility, there'll be obituaries everywhere summarizing his life, his ups and downs, and his music. For many, especially the followers of less amplified musics, he could be loud and strident. His mid-1980s LPs, victims to the mastering practices of the time, are a good instance of that brittle, piercing sound. Still exciting blues and rock'n'roll if you ask me. Like so.

Winter had a growling singing voice and was an overwhelming soloist, with a thumb-pick technique that went way back to the great acoustic guitarists of the 1920s and allowed him to play like a beast. However, what I find most impressive is the sideman work he did for Muddy Waters in the last stretch of his life.

Waters stayed with Chess Records until the label folded. Then, the young overcharged blues-rocker that was Johnny Winter convinced his own label, Blue Sky, to sign old Muddy Waters, took a back seat as producer and sideman, and build the ideal musical environment for Muddy Waters to thrive, be it with his then current band, or old compatriots like James Cotton and Big Walter Horton on harp.

You can hear the four albums they did together on Spotify.

Conventional criticism, as well as the stories of those involved, are sort of dismissive with the last album of the lot, King Bee (the only one that did not get a Grammy); the sessions were not happy ones, and the album had to be completed with outtakes from previous sessions. Even so, I do think that what Winter does on "Mean old Frisco" and "Forever Lonely" is a complete lesson on blues playing (with a clean tone and no distortion, for those concerned about that).

Rest in peace.

"Mean Old Frisco"

"Forever Lonely"

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-8239671275437959192014-07-14T09:00:00.000+01:002014-07-14T12:02:07.765+01:00Goodbye, Charlie Haden

Charlie Haden 1937-2014
(source: his own website)

Charlie Haden was the unlikely bassist. A product of the Grand Ole Opry, of all places, he became the young, fresh, white face of the "new thing" in 1959, when Ornette Coleman opened at the Five Spot in NYC on Tuesday, November 17th. The chronicles tell a tale of "everybody" checking out the new group, from Willem De Kooning to Leonard Bernstein, and Haden himself has told how he played with his eyes closed in front of such an imposing jury of bass players as Charles Mingus, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, and Percy Heath, among others.

Charlie Haden with Ornette Coleman's Quartet in 1960

Since then, during his long and fruitful career, Haden proved to be extremely adaptable: he played and recorded with everybody. There seems to be, in his approach to music, a sort of universal root that enabled him to connect with anyone. At the same time, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, as he did with his four Liberation Music Orchestra albums, and yet everybody seemed to love him.

He was also unlikely because of his hearing ailments, tinnitus (persistent buzz in the ears), and hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to everyday sounds), which made him shield himself behind Plexyglas baffles when playing with a drummer, certainly not the best situation to hear the rest of his colleagues on stage. He had also suffered from polio as a child, and after a complications due to post polio syndrome, he passed away last Friday. He was 76.

I never met the man in person, but Zev Feldman, record producer, boss at Elemental Music, and general manager of Resonance Records, did, when they both were at PolyGram. He's shared his memories on his Facebook page, and has kindly allowed me to reproduce them here.

Rest in peace, Mr. Haden.

Goodbye, Charlie Haden

 Sadness. My heart breaks for Charlie Haden and his family. I was touched to say the least by this giant, by his music, but also by his warmth and kindness. I was fortunate to meet him and see him perform on many occasions throughout the mid-1990's and 2000's when I worked for his record company doing retail marketing and sales.

 My favorite memory of Charlie was a very special time in 1997 when I got to spend an entire day with him. I was 24 years old at the time, and living in New York City. David Neidhart, one of the heads of Verve knew I loved Charlie and arranged for me to escort him to meet my key jazz retail accounts in Manhattan (Tower, HMV, J&R). The label paid for everything, car service between stops and even lunch. I remember, David said to me, 'just get receipts!" We'd go to the shops, Charlie would sign 8x10 press photos and take photos with the buyers and other store staff. It seemed like for every shop we'd hit, we would also hit a Starbucks for coffee right after! Charlie loved coffee. He also loved meeting people. Anyone who worked with him knew he was hands-on and loved to talk with the folks in the field, on the front lines at retail who supported his projects. He was grateful for their support and was never shy to share his gratitude.

 For lunch this day, I suggested, 'how about we go to Tribeca Grill?' Charlie said, 'Sure!' I'll never forget this next part. In the downstairs bathroom area was a framed movie poster of Taxi Driver, (for those that don't know, Robert DeNiro is, or was then, a co-owner of the restaurant.( Anyways, Charlie comes back to the table and says to me (looking me right in the eyes) 'Hey Zev, you talkin' to me?!!' He did the most fantastic impersonation of the character Travis Bickell, but in his own voice. I lit up and was just smiles. I was in heaven. He was having fun and so was I. The conversation flowed as we talked and I would ask questions about music and life, whatever. He made me feel comfortable and like I was his friend.

 After hitting some shops, Charlie says to me, "Hey man, let's go see John Snyder. He's mixing my upcoming album." (The record he was referring to was Haden & Kenny Barron's 1998 duet release, Night & The City). Charlie proceeds to ask me if I knew John. I politely said I didn't, but I loved the Artists House label (which Snyder ran), and the record they did together As Long As There's Music (with Hampton Hawes). Anyways, we go to Clinton Recording studios on 10th Ave. I remember getting there and a session was literally going on with vocalist Jeanie Bryson and the great Eddie Gomez was on bass (Snyder was producing). I was also a huge Gomez fan and I remember vividly meeting him there. In between a take, Charlie introduced me to everyone and we got to hear them perform a track. This was the very first time I had ever set foot in a recording studio. Again, I'm floating.

 Charlie then proceeded to take me to this one green room area in the studio for musicians. I remember there were these cigarette burns all over the furniture and floor. Charlie said to me something to the gist that a lot of cats 'used' in the room. The walls literally spoke to him. Throughout the day, Charlie also spoke with me and shared voluntarily intimate details about his sobriety and life and how things were better off now all because he was not using.

 After we left the studio, we started walking down 10th Ave. A fire truck started to get closer to us with a piercing siren that got louder and louder. Charlie suddenly dropped to his knees on the sidewalk and tried with all his might to close his ears as the truck hurled by with its siren blasting. It was just awful. I felt terrible. He was clearly in pain. I knew right there that him having sensitivity with his ears was very serious. The truck eventually passed, he got up and we walked on. During the day, Charlie had also shared with me how having the sensitivity with his hearing re-taught him how to be a better listener. He explained, that music doesn't always need to be loud to be heard.

 I remember the sun setting as we walked on down 10th Avenue. It must have been at least 8 o'clock. We eventually got a car and I dropped him off at his hotel. Charlie gave me his phone number and mailing address and asked me to keep in touch. It was a day I'll never forget. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to hang with this master. I'll miss him. So thankful we have so much wonderful music to remember him by.

 Thank you Charlie Haden for all the music and memories. Thank you David Neidhart for making the day possible.

-Zev Feldman

Zev Feldman is not only a very nice guy; he's also embarked, both with Elemental Music and Resonance Records, in the release of previously unissued jazz recordings to the highest possible standards, regarding sound quality, presentation, and paying whatever moneys are due to the musicians involved and their estates. His release of New York Concerts by the Jimmy Giuffre Trio and Quartet is a good example of his work.

~ ~ ~

More reading:

Besides the regular obits and many other articles available on line about Charlie Haden, I recommend Ethan Iverson's interview with him, and Francis Davis's profile for The Atlantic.
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-38113011068994404042014-07-11T09:00:00.000+01:002014-07-11T11:38:45.496+01:00Dizzy in Antwerp '59

Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Stewart - Antwerp, Belgium, 1959

Things that pop up on the internet: in September 1959, Dizzy Gillespie was touring Europe with his regular quintet, under the auspices of George Wein and his Newport Festival organization, in the company of a few musicians from an older generation. By the look of it—there's not so much information about the event at hand—the last date of the tour took place in Antwerp, Belgium, where the footage below was filmed. The first bit was broadcast in 1960 on French TV.

In his biography, Wein highlights two points about this tour: first, it showed him a lesson on how Europe worked at the time (a lesson with a price tag of $30,000), and second, in his long and illustrious career, it was the first time ever he felt he'd gained the trust of a great musician, namely Dizzy Gillespie, something he only became aware of thanks to the long time both his and Dizzy's spouse spent together on the road.

From that night in Antwerp there are two videos on line. Besides the musicians that the reader will most likely know, you'll also see and hear Jack Sels (real name: Jacques Sels), a Belgian saxophonist who was also the organizer of the concert in his hometown of Antwerp. The second clip (of which there exists a longer version, apparently), besides the close up of Voice of America's Willis Conover struggling to do his job, it's a good chance to see the camaraderie among musicians—see how Dizzy and Buck Clayton hug—, as well as the general relief that the tour is finally over.

Hope you enjoy...

Dizzy Gillespie Quintet

Dizzy Gillespie (t, voc), Leo Wright (as, f),

Junior Mance (p), Art Davis (b), Teddy Stewart (d)

+ Jimmy Rushing (voc) on "Blues After Dark"

"Groovin' High"........0:00

"Oo-shoo-be-do-be".....8:27

"Autumn Leaves".......12:53

"Blues After Dark"....17:31

~

Dizzy Gillespie Quintet +

Buck Clayton, Emmett Berry (t); Dicky Wells (tb);

Earle Warren (as); Buddy Tate (ts);

George Wein (p); Willis Conover (MC)

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-66431667515255387292014-06-29T13:00:00.000+01:002014-07-01T11:55:33.936+01:00Following Eric Dolphy
For all the lack of audience and shaky economic prospects, your average jazz musician is someone who works very hard to master their instrument and knows music theory inside out. Even if it doesn't permeate all of it, there is, within jazz, an honourable tradition of art for art's sake, of the fight against oneself and the infinite choices offered by music and sound. In more detail, the profile of a jazz musician as a young person today would be someone who got started early in music, has gone through "classical" studies of some sort, is a versatile virtuoso with their instrument, and will have to go through New York City at some point of their lives as some sort of validation.

Just like Eric Dolphy.

Eric Dolphy by Naiel Ibarrola

Dolphy, together with Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane (he worked with both), was the most influential "reedman" to come up in the early 1960s. Be it on flute or, especially, on alto sax and bass clarinet, he established a way of playing that still sounds contemporary. By what can be heard today, I suspect that Dolphy has at least a comparable following among musicians, even though Coleman and Coltrane are more visible figures in the canon. But posterity is fickle.

Perhaps because he didn't fit the moulds — black but not really blues or hard-bop, West Coast but not really "cool" — it took some time for Dolphy to find his place. Interested in music from a young age to the point of obsession, his instinct drove him past the fashions of the day into "contemporary classical" music, putting him, at least for a minute, closer to Messiaen than Central Avenue in Los Angeles.

From his earlier recordings, it is obvious that Dolphy was a follower of Charlie Parker, and a very accomplished one at that; although he played and recorded regularly with the Chico Hamilton Quintet, it wasn't till he got to New York City when he really blossomed as a distinct soloist. As he told another West Coast virtuoso, Buddy Colette, his predecessor in Hamilton's band

You've got to come to New York too. This is where it is. I met Coleman Hawkins and he likes what I do. They like my sound.

It wouldn't take long for Dolphy to realize that, for all the artistic recognition, or even the publicity of a Downbeat award (best new star on alto, 1961), a jazz musician's life wasn't at all rosy. At least, he made good use of opportunities granted by the sheer concentration of talent and studios in the city and got involved in a staggering amount of projects and albums, doing everything from session work for Sammy Davis Jr., to Third Stream records and concerts (thanks to his superlative skill both as an improviser and as a reader), and a number of modern jazz records that include quite a few classics: besides his own work as a leader and sideman for Mingus and Coltrane, he's on John Lewis's The Wonderful World of Jazz, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Max Roach's Percussion Bitter Sweet, George Russell's Ezz-Thetic, and Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, among others (see the Spotify playlist below for most of them).

An example of artistic concentration in 1960 NYC:
These two albums were recorded on the same day, December 21st (listen on Spotify)
(Thanks to my worthy constituent Diego Sánchez Cascado for pointing this out)

For fans of American popular music of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as what could be called "tonal" jazz, Dolphy's music signals where things begin to get... complicated, especially when soloists sound disconnected from underlying rhythms or harmonies. Sometimes it's too easy to think that because I don't "know" what a musician is doing, they don't know either, even though common sense (and some humility), would dictate otherwise. This happened to well-seasoned musicians when Ornette Coleman opened at the Five Spot in New York in late 1959, so it can happen to anyone. The same may happen with Dolphy. However, whereas Coltrane could be as visceral as to reach white heat, and Ornette can confound with his mix of apparent chaos and blues, Dolphy's edginess sounds always under control, his wide intervals, non-tempered notes and "noises" seem to exist for a reason. If anything, Dolphy's music is excellent to work our aural flexibility: my favourite recording to appreciate what he was about, because of the contrast with the "mainstream" background of a beautiful piece, is Kurt Weill's "Alabama Song" arranged by Mike Zwerin (ignore the graphics).

That recording marks the start of Eric Dolphy's last year alive. The reference to Alabama in the title is also a good reminder of the social context of the US fifty years ago: JFK had just been killed, racial tension was growing, and Vietnam was about to get worse. At the same time, popular music was about to change for ever: both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones toured the States for the first time, and Dylan released "Mr. Tambourine Man". In jazz, Louis Armstrong would had an enormous hit with "Hello Dolly", and Stan Getz with "The Girl of Ipanema".

In that context, and without really knowing Dolphy's intentions, his music does sound more attuned to the times. If anything, it is hyperrealist, closer to the chaos and randomness of real life. Strictly from an artistic point of view, the fact that he recorded his own Out to Lunch, and Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, both on Blue Note, within one month, signals both a plenitude and a promise that was abruptly ended fifty years ago today, in Berlin, Germany. He was only 36.

* * *

The biographical information on this post comes from Raymond Horricks's The Importance of Being Eric Dolphy (DJ Costello, 1989), and the chapter Ted Gioia devotes to him on his West Coast Jazz (Oxford University Press, 1992).

 * * *

 The "complete" recordings of Eric Dolphy
(as available on Spotify)

* * *

DOLPHY ON VIDEO

With the Chico Hamilton Quintet, Newport 1958

Eric Dolphy (fl), Nathan Gershman (cello), John Pisano (g),
Hal Gaylor (b) and Chico Hamilton (d)
July 6, 1958.

With the John Coltrane Quintet, Germany 1961

John Coltrane (ss, ts), Eric Dolphy (f, as), McCoy Tyner (p),
Reggie Workman (b), Elvin Jones (d)
Baden-Baden, Germany, December 4, 1961

On Leonard Bernstein's Journey into Jazz, 1964

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
Leonard Bernstein (director, narrator) Gunther Schuller (composer, conductor)
Nat Hentoff (author)
Don Ellis (tp), Eric Dolphy (as), Benny Golson (ts),
Richard Davis (b), Joe Cocuzzo (d)
Lincoln Center, NYC, February 8, 1964

With Charles Mingus in Europe, 1964

Johnny Coles (tp), Eric Dolphy (f, as, bcl), Clifford Jordan (ts),
Jaki Byard (p), Charles Mingus (b), Dannie Richmond (d)
Liege, Belgium, April 19, 1964
Oslo, Norway, April 12, 1964
Stockholm, Sweden, April 13, 1964
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-34010123625842584082014-06-20T17:40:00.000+01:002014-06-20T17:40:28.426+01:00The joy of Horace

Horace Silver pictured in 1989 by Dimitri Savitski (Wikipedia)

Since back in 2007 when bassist Christian McBride made a passing comment on Horace Silver's Alzheimer, his passing yesterday was not unexpected news (so much so, that a rumour became news and spread like fire earlier in the year).

There are very fine obits around (like this one) about Silver's wonderful life, so we'll skip that.

His legacy, what remains after the man's gone, is phenomenal. As a piano player, his style was very rhythmic (watch out for that left hand, which can also be heard in contemporaries such as John Williams and Eddie Costa) and somewhat sketchy, as if he was dotting down ideas for new compositions as he was playing them. A prolific composer and a tasking leader, his music was lively, bluesy, gutsy, churchy, with feeling.

I only saw Silver once, in 1996, and while I was looking for some music from that decade, I came across the video below. You'll probably find Red Holloway's solo on tenor overwhelming, but if you can stop dancing and listen carefully, you'll notice that this composition is very simple. The gist of it is just two chords through several bars, and the rhythm is as simple as anything you can imagine in the tradition that goes from gospel to early rock'n'roll. This is from a live performance in 1994, and still Silver deemed necessary, unavoidable, to have Carl Burnett drum like this, in tempo, no frills, for seven minutes straight, and his musicians play and improvise over such a simple harmonic background.

I guess this is the kind of thing people refer to when they blame musical complexity for poor audiences in current jazz. I don't think generalizations work, but, I must say, in this case I'd see their point. Here, the music as set up by the leader, Silver, is first and last.

Rest in peace, Horace Silver. Your music lives on.

"Pencil Packin' Papa"

North Sea Jazz Festival 1994

Live at the Garden Pavillion, The Hague, Netherlands

July 8, 1994

Oscar Brashear, Bob Summers, Ron Stout..trumpets

George Bohanon..........................trombone

Maurice Spears.....................bass trombone

Suzette Moriarty.....................French horn

Red Holloway...........................tenor sax

Horace Silver..............................piano

Bob Maize...................................bass

Carl Burnett...............................drums

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-63045424255474635472014-06-12T18:30:00.000+01:002014-07-15T10:07:38.707+01:00The drums of bossa nova
Marketing has gone truly global. At least for those of us living in the Western world and glued to a screen with access to the internet, there are trends that everybody seem to subscribe to, at least for a minute.

Right this minute, there are two trends leading to Brazil, one the biggest in the world, the other just a musical footnote. The latter is about the 50th anniversary of the release of Getz/Gilberto (never mind all the empty blurbs — it is a masterpiece), which may give the impression that bossa-nova is all Brazil ever had to offer musically (it isn't) or even that it didn't really blossom till the Americans got involved in it.

Again, publicity-wise that may be true, but musically nothing surpasses João Gilberto's first three albums recorded between 1959 and 1961 back in Brazil. And even for the Americans, things didn't really take off until, after a few trials on their own, they got the Brazilians involved, which made the difference between great (like Stan Getz's album with Charlie Byrd) and a masterpiece.

Listening to Jazz/Samba and Getz/Gilberto, there's one huge difference between the two albums. Whereas for the former it seemed necessary to have two drummers to reproduce Brazilian rhythms (and the percussion gets quite heavy), there's only one drummer on the latter, and what he does is a wonder of subtlety and dynamics. It's Washington D.C. v. Rio de Janeiro; Deppenschmidt & Reichenbach v. Banana.

Milton Banana (c. 1979)

When I first read the name Milton Banana as the drummer in Getz/Gilberto, I thought it was a joke. It was actually the alias of Antônio de Souza (1935-1998), who not only played on Getz/Gilberto, but also on João Gilberto's first LP, which established what we know as bossa. He was the original bossa-nova drummer.

The comparison above between drummers is not totally fair. For starters, in the recording with Getz, Banana had Gilberto's guitar anchoring the rhythm, with an excellent Tommy Williams following the guitarist's thumb; furthermore, Banana had been playing this music for a while, and even though he was from Brazil, following Gilberto wasn't easy for him either. As he told Zuza Homem de Mello for his Música Popular Brasileira Cantada e Contada:

"The recording sessions took a long time because João Gilberto was very thorough in his work, and also because none of us really knew what was next and how we should accompany the music."

Banana, still in his twenties but already both Gilberto's and Jobim's favourite drummer, was key to the end result of Getz/Gilberto. Although he may seem to have disappeared to out Westernized eyes, he recorded a lot of albums with his trio, of which there are a few available on line. If you listen to him, you'll notice that he was more flexible and versatile than American jazz drummers, who sometimes make bossa sound like a collection of licks.

Interestingly, the first one was made for Audio Fidelity, whose owner, Sid Frey, had also produced the first bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall that had brought a bunch of Brazilians — including the Gilbertos, Jobim, and Banana — to NYC.

Ladies, gentlemen: with thanks to the keen uploader, I give you Milton Banana.

O ritmo e o som da bossa nova (1963)

Milton Banana (drums)
with Oscar Castro Neves (piano) Iko Castro Neves (bass) Henry Perci Wilcox (guitar) Roberto Pontes Dias (percussion) Leo Wright (flute, sax)

*

Milton Banana Trio (1965)

Milton Banana (drums), Walter Wanderley (piano), and Guará (bass)

*

Balançando com Milton Banana Trio (1966)

Milton Banana (drums), Cido Bianchi (piano), Mário Augusto (bass)

*

O Som do Milton Banana Trio (1967)

Milton Banana (drums). Rest of personnel unknown.

*

O Trio (1968)

Milton Banana (drums), Walter Wanderley (piano), "Azeitona" (bass)
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-19326443679033816682014-05-21T22:00:00.000+01:002014-05-21T22:00:01.667+01:00The "classical" side of Marc Ribot
Guitar proficiency today is just ridiculous, especially with this not-so-new wave of eclecticism, of not restricting oneself to one style of music. People like Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Nels Cline... are able to jump genres without blinking, whereas others, perhaps more specialized, like Russell Malone, Frank Vignola, John Pizzarelli or Joe Morris and Mary Halvorson are reaching new heights in their art all the time.

All those musicians are just incredible, and you should check them out, either live or on record, and among them a favourite of this blog is Marc Ribot, who turns 60 today.

Ribot has played and recorded as leader and as a sideman, with projects that go from John Zorn's Electric Masada to Alison Krauss & Robert Plant's Raising Sand, or situations like last year's Jazzaldia, where he played with Zorn one day and with Diana Krall on the next. Without being a virtuoso in the conventional sense — although his technique more than serves its purpose — Ribot's taste, touch and indescribably rich, meaty, succulent tone make him a very demanded six-stringer (which helps restore faith in the music scene today, to be frank).

As a child, Ribot was neighbours with noted Haitian guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus, who gave lessons to young Marc. In this article, Ribot talks about his teacher.

Marc Ribot and Frantz Casseus in 1987. Photo by Harriet Ribot.

In return, many years later Ribot recorded an album of Casseus's compositions, Marc Ribot Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus (Les Disques du Crepuscule, Belgium, 1993), a fascinating collection of "classical" guitar music which is now very much out of print and sought after. It is a testimony to Casseus's legacy and to Ribot's dedication to the instrument and the music, and luckily some of it can be heard on line.

This is a playlist I've put together on YouTube:

And it can also be listened to on Grooveshark.

Enjoy, and happy birthday to Mr. Ribot!
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-8784984137675591092014-05-09T15:30:00.000+01:002014-05-09T15:41:54.884+01:00RIP Joe Wilder (1922-2014)

Joe Wilder at IJS
(Photo by Ed Berger)

Ed Berger, his good friend and biographer, reports the passing of Joe Wilder earlier today. Wilder, somehow like Hank Jones, was a gentleman, a dedicated craftsman in his instrument, from which he extracted the most beautiful sound, soft yet slightly brassy. With him gone, yet another window to the past is closed, but at least we have Berger's biography, which is already available. And we'll always have the records.

This is an article about Wilder by Berger. Here, he's at Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR.

This is Wilder taming an old warhorse.

Here he caresses another bebop greyhound, "How High the Moon". That was my first Wilder on record.

And this is the man himself, doing an overview of his long and illustrious career.

These below are the two albums he did for Columbia in 1958-1959. Personnel on The Pretty Sound (recorded on December 1 & 3, 1958) includes Urbie Green (tb), Phil Bodner or Jerry Sanfino (various reeds), Jerome Richardson (sax, cl), Hank Jones (p), Al Casamenti (g), George Duvivier (b), and Don Lamond or Osie Johnson (d).

On Peter Gunn (recorded on January 18, 1959), he's with Hank Jones (p), Milt Hinton (b), and John Cresci Jr. (d).

Fresh Sound of Barcelona has recently reunited Wilder's Savoy sessions with Hank Jones in one CD, Such a Beautiful Sound (FSRCD 812). The CD also includes a group led by altoist Pete Brown, but in the list below, I've only included the quartet with the house rhythm section at Savoy, Hank Jones on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. The first two tracks were recorded at Van Gelder's in Hackensack, on November 29, 1955, the rest on January 19, 1956.

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-59774101818502582722014-04-30T11:00:00.001+01:002014-04-30T13:30:50.720+01:00It's International Jazz Day
Happy and all that for UNESCO's International Jazz Day, but since I either listen to, think or write (sometimes even dream) about jazz every single day, my celebration will consist of a quiet thought about all the men and women who have spent their lives pursuing beauty in this music, especially those who went against the grain, be it personal problems, illness, financial straits, prison or just the lack of an understanding audience.

As an illustration, I leave you with a live recording in a New York club by a great, happy guitar virtuoso who left us too soon possibly because he worked himself to death, accompanied by an unsung hero of the piano, a true master of swing and the blues who also left way too soon because he lived the life he had to live, despite his epilepsy.

For all those musicians, regardless of gender, skin pigmentation or nationality, "I Remember You" indeed.

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-19455768950696552532014-04-28T09:00:00.000+01:002014-08-14T11:16:15.376+01:00Denzil Best's "Move"

Denzil Best pictured by Bill Gottlieb

Yesterday was the birthday of Denzil Best (1917-1965) a musician whose life was sadly defined by bad health. He started on trumpet, but had to abandon it when he was very young because of a pulmonary illness. He then went on to play the piano and bass, and finally the drums, on which his brushwork was masterful. Later in life he had problems with his wrists, and finally died after an accident.

Interestingly, in spite of a few good recordings, his place in posterity is secured because of a number of compositions. "Allen's Alley" (a/k/a "Wee"), "Dee Dee's Dance", "45-Degree Angle" (later modified by Herbie Nichols), "Bemsha Swing" (co-signed with Thelonious Monk), and his most famous opus, "Move". Now you'll see why Best deserves all the posterity we can get him.

This is George Shearing's Quintet with Best himself on drums (the rest of the band are Don Elliott on vibes, Chuck Wayne on guitar, and John Levy on bass, circa 1950—normally this video is sped up, but I've corrected the speed and pitch myself).

This is probably the best-known version of this track, arranged by John Lewis and recorded in 1949 by Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet, with Lee Konitz on alto sax, Al Haig on piano and Max Roach on drums, among others.

Next up is the first "Move" I ever heard, recorded live at Storyville in Boston, 1951, by Stan Getz and Jimmy Raney, with another composer/arranger and master drummer with the brushes, Tiny Kahn (plus Teddy Kotick on bass and Al Haig again on piano). Listen to the excitement at the end of the drums solo.

This one is the earliest studio recording I know (from late 1948—there's an earlier broadcast by Miles Davis and the nonet), by Fats Navarro. Don Lanphere is on tenor and Max Roach again on drums.

... which seems to have been the basis for this one, led by Art Taylor and the personnel you can see on the screen, recorded in 1960.

Playlists:

YouTube

Spotify (with some extras)

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-46464396975252323822014-04-15T09:00:00.000+01:002014-04-16T14:46:08.823+01:00Billie Holiday, Club Bali... and the Internet
It's funny how some people sometimes long for the great filters of olden days, when there was no internet, from record producers and publicists who had some influence on what music was commercially released or not, to professional journalists and editors who produced well-written, fact-checked copy. Those filters were by no means perfect, but they had their role.

Consider this picture. It was, probably still is, one of the first results when you type "Ray Bauduc", "Walter Page" or "Claude Hopkins" on the world's most-used search engine (owners of the blog-platform you're reading this on). Those are minor names in the great scheme of Western culture. If you type "Billie Holiday", you'll probably see this picture too sooner than later.

Thing is, those are not Ray Bauduc, Walter Page or Claude Hopkins.

Not Earth-shattering news, admittedly. From what I gather, someone uploaded the picture to Wikipedia, without citing the original source (just a Flickr link that doesn't work anymore),and there was a short discussion where someone said

The bass player is Walter Page, the drummer looks like Ray Bauduc. Don't recognize the pianist, will try look, but meanwhile this personnel should help finding it.

Followed by

Ok, I'm guessing that the pianist might be Claude Hopkins.

And thus Bobby Tucker — that's who the pianist is — becomes Claude Hopkins. Just because Wikipedia is a page with heavy traffic and Google really works on quantity of visits, not the quality of the information, we've gone from an anonymous person guessing that the man in the picture might be Claude Hopkins, to an actual fact. Even the guess is not very good, a trio of those presumed three backing Billie Holiday in an apparently formal setting — as opposed to a jam session — is quite unlikely.

So, the pianist is actually Bobby Tucker, Holiday's regular accompanist. He can be seen in a number of pictures on the internet like these, from www.billieholiday.be: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J. He's also identified as such on both Donald Clarke's and Stuart Nicholson's biographies, as well as on Ken Vail's Lady Day's Diary - The Life of Billie Holiday 1937-1959 (Castle Communications, 1996). On page 114, he has this uncredited picture (caption is his):

Billie at the Club Bali, with Al Dunn (drums), Bobby Tucker (piano) and Benny Fonsville [sic] (bass)

Vail dates this gig in 1948 (Holiday went back to Club Bali the following year too, but Tucker wasn't on piano). The Smithsonian archives carry a few more photographs from the same gig, and indicate that they were taken for Scurlock Studio in Washington, an important depository of Black American history.

Billie Holiday at Club Bali, Washington DC
September 10-16, 1948

Regarding the bassist and drummer, unfortunately this is the only picture I know of Al Dunn, who's listed on Bruyninckx discography only once (in the only session led by pianist Coleridge Davis, in 1945 for the "Hub" label). Quite obscure, I'd say. In any case, he's definitely not Ray Bauduc, of Bob Crosby's Orchestra and Bobcats fame.

Left: Possibly Al Dunn. Right: Ray Bauduc.

So, who is this drummer?

Is this Al Dunn?

In profile

As for the bassist, he looks a bit like Walter Page... about twenty years earlier. This picture below is from November 12, 1947, less than a year before the Club Bali engagement (click to enlarge)

Walter Page in 1947 (Source)

I'd say that the bass player with Holiday is younger, and not Walter Page. Regarding the name Benny Fonville (sic), there is on several JATP recordings from 1946, 1947, and 1949. The 1949 recording is by Kenny Kersey's trio, who appears with Fonville on this picture by Bill Gottlieb (from his collection at LoC). "Fonsville" and Fonville don't appear to be the same bassist (both pictures were taken about a year apart):

So, since Vail doesn't give the actual source of his information (although he mentions Bobby Tucker in the acknowledgments), unless someone comes up with more information in order to double check the bass and drummer, we don't have anything solid.

Without other evidence, I wouldn't be surprised if bassist and drummer were two locals hired for the occasion; note that the bassist seems to be sight-reading.

~ ~ ~

What is confirmed from a number of images is that the venue for this gig was Club Bali (source: George Washington University, Washington DC).

Bennie Ventura (?), Conte Candoli, Jackie Cain, Charlie Ventura, Roy Kral
(Note the music stand from the Metronome All-Stars session!)

Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines

~ ~ ~

Regarding the date, it seems that Holiday performed twice at Club Bali. Once in September 1948, and at least a second one in October 14-20, 1949 according to a bill from that year (right). The pianist in 1949 wasn't Tucker, but a youngster called Carl Drinkard, whose first gig with Holiday was this, as a last-minute substitute for, incidentally, Coleridge Davis (see above), whose playing wasn't suitable for Lady Day's music. Both Donald Clarke and Julia Blackburn carry Drinkard's testimony (spelling Davis's name as Coolridge, presumably a typo) on how he was hired and got to be Holiday's pianist, on and off, for a number of years. Drinkard remembers this happening in late Summer 1949, but Vail also lists October.

As for the music itself, first of all, the singer was put in jail for ten months in 1947-1948, in what is considered the beginning of her serious problems with drugs and the law, including the removal of her NYC cabaret card. Musically, she was on the second half of her Decca years, recording a mix of torch songs, commercial stuff ("Girls Were Made to Take Care of Boys"... was that necessary?) and, not surprisingly for the same label as Louis Jordan, king of the jukeboxes, Rhythm&Blues (or whatever it was called then, the name only came up on Billboard in 1949). These years are sandwiched between the jazzier, 1930s "swing" and the 1950s "mainstream", but show the singer in very good voice, as you can hear in several reissues and this Spotify playlist. This includes an interview where she mentions a truncated project of a Bessie Smith album (she did get to record a few numbers from the Empress' repertoire, whose last ever session took place three days before Holiday's debut on wax).

I leave you with two more images from Club Bali with owner Benny Caldwell, without a date on them (although Holiday's hair-do looks identical to the previous photos), courtesy also of the Smithsonian archives.

Benny Caldwell, Billie Holiday and two friends at Club Bali, 1948 or 1949

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-338910833125190032014-04-07T09:00:00.000+01:002014-04-08T22:22:37.009+01:00Kit Downes & Tom Challenger: Wedding Music live at Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is hosting an organ season to celebrate the culmination of the three-year long refurbishment works to bring back its organ to life, with its 7,866 pipes laid along the span of the stage.

The organ at Royal Festival Hall, refurbished (© Nick Rochowski)

Organería Española, S. A. in Azpeitia
(© Pepe Gil)

The organ, this kind of super-sized organ, is a special instrument. Like any other kid at the time, I first experienced it at Sunday mass in my hometown, Azpeitia (Spain), with the "Lord's Prayer" as a highlight of Sunday mornings (and a huge disappointment if the organ wasn't being used for whatever reason). I also happened to live right opposite the local organ factory (pictured on the left, but not there anymore), part of an organ-making tradition that goes back to the 19th century and local organ builder Aquilino Amezua.

For just a lot of air going through some pipes, the organ can be extremely loud, and extremely subtle. It can also hit the lowest notes you can imagine (or hear), one of the reasons why it is so important to hear it live and experience the physicality of it, its textures, the sheer loudness produced by mechanical, not electrical means (the original power chords came from an organ, not an electric guitar). The sonic experience is so powerful, it can even prevail over the music itself.

Downes & Challenger

This is why last Friday's free concert by Kit Downes (organ) and Tom Challenger (tenor sax) was a golden chance to experience the new instrument. In the organisers' drive to bring the organ to the people (vice versa, actually), Downes gave a few pointers about the disposition of the pipes (consecutive notes from the same register may be located at opposite ends of the stage, which adds an spatial dimension to the sound), and other technicalities, and the audience was encouraged to roam around to fully appreciate the sonic quality of instrument and hall. (Note to jazz combos and big bands: the gig was fully acoustic and the tenor sax was perfectly audible at almost all times – Downes got quite wild at times – and it was just delicious).

Wedding Music (Loop, 2013)

The music itself came from these two youngsters' album Wedding Music (Loop, 2013) an exploration of improvisation and the more recent "classical" music worlds of Morton Feldman and Messiaen (as mentioned by Downes himself). In actual fact it was a one-hour long offering of mostly contemplative, sometimes very intense, exhilarating music played on a vast range of dynamics, from the eeriness of the opening "Optics" to the heavy machinery evocation of "Cooks". The surprise, at least for me, came with some very rhythmic passages and the resolution of some situations, something for which the organ can be as spectacular as a whole orchestra, even though it's operated by a single man (who, in this case, went as far as to pushing some otherwise hand-operated stops with his feet). If this is indeed Wedding music, it'd be interesting to see who's getting married.

What was also clear is that the duo had been granted some time to prepare this concert. That the South Bank Centre has provided these two youngsters with preparation time, that they've been allowed to play and play with a newly refurbished instrument shows the real and magnificent dimension of the love of adventurous music in this city.

*

Some of Downes and Challenger's music played live can be heard on this BBC Radio 3 programme (from 2:02:00 onwards). The whole album can be bought (as a download) and listened to on Loop Collective's Bandcamp page, although for this I'd recommend to buy it in FLAC format, and have it played on decent equipment. It can also be listened to on Spotify.

*

PS: Two new clips on the BBC website.

Interview with Downes and Challenger.

"Cooks" from their March 30, 2014 concert at the RFH.

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-14151198419245792722014-03-25T10:57:00.001Z2014-07-01T12:08:34.676+01:00Portrait of Cecil Taylor as a young man
Playing the music(s) we call jazz is not an easy life, neither regarding the art itself, nor as a way to make a living. The reasons for anyone to follow that path fall beyond the realm of logic; art is a tricky business, and longevity and sheer stubbornness do not necessarily bring about recognition and financial support for the artist's work. Luck and chance can make or break a career. Even so, there are men and women who work relentlessly to realize whatever shakes their spirits. If there is one musician who's taken his art to an overwhelming standard of technical virtuosity, swimming against the strongest tides of disapproval, that must be Cecil Taylor, who turns 85 today.

© Naiel Ibarrola, 2014

Years before Ornette put any music on record, before Coltrane stepped firmly into the unknown, Taylor was hammering his way into the scene in New York, but he never quite made it, even if he was the first jazz act at the now legendary Five Spot, turning it into a bona fide jazz venue. He was not only aware of jazz and its traditions, but he claimed that his approach to form and composition was based on Duke Ellington's, and, being an astonishing virtuoso, had very definite ideas on the value and role of technique in fellow pianists such as Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, two clear instances of technique being the consequence of the music itself. Even so, his arrival must have been similar to Henry Cowell's in the "classical" world, thirty or forty years earlier.

Taylor, even if he was once applauded by Erroll Garner, no less, had to fight bad pianos, dodgy promoters, non-steady gigs, the stern opposition from part of the African-American community — his own people, so to speak. This might have discouraged a lesser man, but not Taylor. It may have made him something of an outsider, but it didn't stop him, at least not for long.

One of the reasons why Taylor has provoked so much hostility may be that he is an intimidating man. His music is uncommon, and yet he does it with devastating energy and determination, a level of virtuosity that is ridiculous, and reflecting his wide interests in the arts in general, especially dance (he's a fan of flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya) and also painting and poetry. Not only that: although the intensity he displays can reach unbearable levels, and he can hold it there for long stretches, there is no apparent paroxysm. He seems to be always in control, and his pointillistic piano sounds always conscious and deliberate.

I have seen Cecil Taylor play live in three occasions, with Max Roach in 1999, sharing the bill with Bill Dixon, and with Anthony Braxton on their first ever gig together. These were challenging concerts, the music was dense, and Taylor is often relentless in the intensity of his performances (although his opening notes in the latter were so unexpectedly sweet and tender that sighs were heard). As Dan Morgenstern wrote in a fantastic lesson on how to review a concert as something of an outsider, there's a real possibility for the listener to be "left merely to marvel at the energy on display, without being moved by it". Still worth the effort, in my opinion.

Anyone interested in trying this superb pianist's music from a vantage point closer to the main stream of jazz, should listen to the albums he did as a twenty-something, struggling musician, when he spent more time in odd jobs — at Macy's, for instance — than playing the piano in public. Of those, my favourite is Looking Ahead! (YouTube; liner notes), but you can listen to all his recordings from the 1950s in this playlist, where a number of standards and more conventional rhythm sections provide a handle to dive and start swimming in Taylor's waters.

For more information on Taylor's early career, the definitive account is on AB Spellman's Four Jazz Lives (University of Michigan Press, 2004), formerly Four Lives in the Bebop Business. The exemplary review I mentioned by Dan Morgenstern (of a concert at NYC's Town Hall) is included in his Living with Jazz (Pantheon, 2004).

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-49008337992785731882014-03-18T09:00:00.000Z2014-07-16T13:52:57.876+01:00Paco de Lucía: an introduction in tangos, and a PS
In the obituaries devoted to Paco de Lucía, the comments have focused on his adventures beyond Flamenco and its fusion with other musics, but in actual fact he never strayed too far from his roots and the vast majority of his recordings can still be sorted in the palos, the different forms of the genre. As he himself said "there are other musics I admire, but they don't make me feel like Flamenco does. It just breaks you."

Paco de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla (unknown photographer)

Among those palos, tangos — which, like Camarón and Paco, come from around Cádiz — must be the easiest to enjoy for anyone used to the 4/4 ever-present in pop, rock and a great deal of jazz. It not only shares the four-beat signature, but the accents also tend to fall on beats 2 and 4, where your typical hi-hat or snare drum wouldn't be so out of place.

I don't believe there's a single gateway for everybody to discover any given kind of music, and I don't think there's anything wrong with making an effort to appreciate musics we're not used to. Even so, given that you're very likely a jazz fan, with ears used to swinging 4/4 time, I thought it'd be a good idea to compile a brief selection of tangos by Paco de Lucía. You can listen to them on YouTube or Spotify.

Besides hits like "Sólo quiero caminar" ("I only want to walk") and "Como el agua" ("Like water"), sung by Pepe de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla respectively, I'd recommend a good listen to "La Cañada" and "Me regalé". On the first one (from Siroco, 1987), with its lively tempo, tension rises up to a spectacular passage (from 3:12) and then dissolves in the beautiful theme melody, which only appears at the end of the piece.

"Me regalé" (from Luzia, 1998), on the other hand, uses something akin to a pedal to delay resolution (when they sing "cantan al compás, bailan al compás, y al compás...") and Paco's comping behind the voices sound closer to jazz than to flamenco.

In the video below there's a different version to the previous one, by the classic Sextet, with Paco and his brothers Ramón (guitar) and Pepe (vocals), plus Carles Benavent (bass), Rubem Dantas (cajón) and Jorge Pardo (flute), with dancer Joaquín Grilo joining them on second cajón. Perhaps because this was part of a feature film (Flamenco by Carlos Saura, 1995), this is actually a composite of the introduction from "Sólo quiero caminar", the theme from "La Cañada" and, finally, the melody and lyrics from "Me regalé".

* * *

PD: Since I published the previous entry, I have hardly listened to anything but Paco de Lucía's music, a pleasure I had sort of left aside for too long. This has made me appreciate his value as a composer. Perhaps because he's an incredible guitarist, I think that his skill as a creator of tunes has been taken too lightly in the appreciation of his legacy (the album 10 de Paco would be a brilliant exception). There's quite a number of catchy tunes he's left behind, and he generally managed to extract elements from other musics and integrate them seamlessly in his Flamenco universe.

Besides all this, truth be told, his passing has hit harder than expected. It may be because of his age, but there is something more. A frequent comment these days among fans in Spain has been about the feeling of his having always been there, his being an indispensable part of our musical landscape. In my case this is literally true: being just three when "Entre dos aguas" came out, he was the first musician I was ever aware of, the first virtuoso that amazed me from the other side of the TV screen, and what he played is the first syncopated music I ever heard. There has been an enormous amount of music in other styles and from other continents, time went on, and even if in gaps of several years, I always returned to his music, be it for the new released or his vast catalogue. Like many, I have also butchered his music on my own guitar.

Adiós, maestro. Life goes on.
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-71394263288670484572014-03-03T14:51:00.000Z2014-07-28T10:54:32.821+01:00RIP Francisco Sánchez

Francisco Sánchez, a/k/a Paco de Lucía (picture: ABC)

Francisco Sánchez's passing will leave us without any new adventures of Paco de Lucía, the shivers when he appeared on the stage, the ecstasy at the end of a concert. It will divide music lovers between those of us who saw him live and those who didn't. These will have to make do with a sizable amount of recordings and video footage he leaves behind, evidence of the several lives that Francisco Sánchez was able to fit in Paco's: Francisco Sánchez was just 66 when he died, but Paco had been a working musician for over fifty years. So much for Andalusians being lazy and all that.

For me, a child in the Seventies, my first impression of Paco, on TV, was that of a charismatic, handsome, and very serious-looking guy. He had long hair, parted on the side, and although he dressed in a contemporary way, he seemed to follow Seventies fashion from a prudent distance; still in his twenties, he was young too. And he played very fast.

Paco on TVE

Paco turned Flamenco from a black-and-white, gloomy, funny-smelling music, played and sung by old, stern people, into something more colourful and brighter. Musically, he was heavier than the rumba and Flamenco-lite bands of the time, but, interestingly, his big leap into the public arena did come with a little rumba. "Entre dos aguas" (a reference to De Lucía's hometown of Algeciras, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic), a tune that Paco had been working on for a while, was a last-minute filler in the LP Fuente y Caudal, with prominent electric bass and bongo — then a rarity in Flamenco —, and an opening phrase that seems to sing Las Grecas's "Te estoy amando locamente", a popular hit at the time (which he quotes again in another tune from the same album). Interestingly, if another hit of that time, Los Marismeños's "Carambita", had some similarities with "Entre Dos Aguas" too, it's because Paco actually plays in it.

Carnegie Hall bill (1972)

While Franco's regime dragged to its pathetic end, Paco had already played Carnegie Hall in New York and had recorded about 12 albums under his name, besides countless sessions, many anonymously. He was only 25, and he had already spent half of his life as a working musician. The youngest of five kids in a very humble family — life was not easy in 1950s Andalusia — he, like his siblings, was taken out of school at age 9, having learned how to read, write, and do basic maths. His father, a so-so guitar player but an astute man who would take any odd job to make ends meet, including playing at rich people's private parties, not only applied a ruthless discipline on his offspring, but he also made them familiar with real, good Flamenco without them having to get acquainted with night life too early in their lives. After his night job was done, he invited his musical comperes back to his place early in the morning, where his sons could listen to and play with the older musicians.

Young Paco

In the sixties, Paco's cantaor brother, Pepe, joined José Greco's dance company for a tour in the States. Their father imposed himself on Greco, and got him to take Paco too. Still a minor, and without any command of English, he travelled on his own to Chicago via New York, with the help of a guitar fan in the flight transfer. Later, back in New York, Paco would meet Sabicas, his main reference on the guitar after Niño Ricardo. Perhaps unknowingly, Sabicas gave a piece of advice to Paco that would turn into his main focus as an artist: he heard the young Paco play and, possibly because he recognized Niño Ricardo's falsetas, he told him that a guitarist shouldn't play someone else's music, "a guitarist must play his own music". From then on, Paco would develop his own falsetas and turn into a composer; eventually, he would force himself to make something new every time he went into a recording studio. Before that, though, he had time to tour Brazil as a member, again with his brother Pepe, of Antonio Gades's dance company. Besides the nightly adventures of a bunch of youngsters on a warm, welcoming and distant part of the world, this trip made Paco familiar with Brazilian music and guitar styles.

Camarón looks in awe at
a falseta by Paco

After a few years of relentless work with fellow guitarist Ricardo Modrego on their own records together and as session men, Paco records, aged 19, La Fabulosa Guitarra de Paco de Lucía (Spotify/MySpace), his first solo LP (he had already canned a 4-track EP three years earlier), as well as his first album with cantaor supremo Camarón de la Isla. The fact that such dominant forces in Flamenco singing and guitar-playing actually met and worked together so often is one of those events that are just impossible to assess in a proportionate way. For jazz fans, this is as if Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who only worked together for about a year and half, would have recorded nine (9) albums in eight years.

In 1970 Paco played solo at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, as part of the celebrations for Beethoven's bi-centennial and the 25th anniversary of Bartok's passing; in the following year, he would play the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. Still in his early twenties, he shed a few conventions which may seem trivial today, like growing his hair and performing with no jacket on, and some others that actually affect the music, such us playing with his right leg crossed over the left, or dropping the guitar neck to a horizontal position. It is also at this time that he changed his instrument, from the usual Flamenco-style guitar to a sort of hybrid of that (in size) and the classical (as regards wood types), always through the expert hands of guitar makers Hermanos Conde.

As Paco himself has told, things changed dramatically after "Entre dos aguas" was released. There were more gigs, more money, more public visibility, fame. In those circumstances, he was invited to play Teatro Real in Madrid, an event loaded with a symbolism as absurd as it was real. This was Spain in 1975, when a young Flamenco player entered a house of musical chastity and order, in a country whose ruling classes were certainly more about chastity and order than about music. That, besides the patronizing glare of the classical music world towards this peasants' music. Only two years later, he would get Al di Meola's invitation to play on his Elegant Gypsy followed by the collaborations with John McLaughlin and Chick Corea. This would turn him into an international star, the kind of musician that drags crowds into venues regardless of their preferred musical style, people like Piazzolla or Keith Jarrett, whose audiences have wanted to hear them, almost regardless of what they do.

Paco gets some help from his older brother, Ricardo, at Teatro Real, Madrid, on February 18th, 1975.
The theatre was so overcrowded that the audience flooded the stage.

Going back to the now distant Teatro Real, despite what might seem natural, given the recognition he would probably get by playing there, Paco wasn't too happy for the invitation. Having already premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York, he didn't think he or Flamenco needed whatever seal of approval a comparatively minor venue could give him; it was hard enough that it took later in his own country for his music and Flamenco in general to be appreciated.

Yepes's harsh words for Paco's
take on Concierto de Aranjuez
El Cultural-ABC, 20/12/91
(Click to expand)

If any artist must live with a bottomless search of a message and a language to express it, what to say and how to say it, Paco, unwittingly pushed by Sabicas, decided not to ever repeat himself. On top of that, he had to stand his ground before all those who didn't agree with his way of playing Flamenco, as well as those who disagreed with his way of playing "classical" music (like Narciso Yepes, who was a harsh and not entirely reasonable critic of Paco's work on the field, see left). Despite having audiences on his side, with such pressure in his own country, the growing international attention must have been a blessing; Paco began playing more abroad, where he could actually relax about all those issues. The apex of this home-grown aversion to Paco's success took place at Camarón de la Isla's funeral, when some hidden in the mob decided it was a good moment to accuse Paco of swindling his friend on copyright dues. There are images of the funeral where the shock is visible on Paco's face.

Even so, Paco got over all this, and also managed to leave an important legacy behind, giving worldwide relevance to Flamenco, creating a demand for this kind of Flamenco guitar virtuoso, and establishing a type of band, with electric bass, Peruvian cajón — which he actually introduced in Flamenco — and wind instruments, which, as conventional as it may look now, it didn't exist before him. With no formal music education at all, only with his very capable hands and ears, an staggering amount of work, and clear and fast intelligence, he blazed his own trail. His luck, and ours, is that there are so many of us ready to follow him and enjoy those musical worlds. Or, like his colleague Manolo Sanlúcar said, "listening to Paco, the novice listener will be enchanted, and the expert will go crazy".

As a musician, there are three aspects of Paco's art that cannot be ignored. First, his obsessive and almost sickening perfectionism (he tells the story of how once he stopped praising a guitar player he heard on the radio when he realized it was himself playing). This is a demon with whom he had to live all his life and bothered not only him, but his friends and even his record company, where, in recent times, they would have preferred a more lively rate of recording and touring. Interestingly, this perfectionism has propagated to the following generations.

The second aspect would be his intelligence. As much as he insisted that everything that happened to him was due to sheer chance, there are things, from the careful staging of his concerts, to the realization, early in his career, and perhaps because he was a keen fisherman, that to hook an audience you need to give them some bait. His remarks about the shows with McLaughlin and Di Meola, "sometimes it felt like a circus, and that was very appealing to people", are significant in that respect, and he can be seen laughing at the end of "show-off" fast passages. Comments about his shyness are many too, but there are quite a few interviews where Paco doesn't bite his tongue, and speaks frankly about delicate issues (even if he doesn't go as far as the 1976 interview with Jesús Quintero, after which a bunch of fascist extremists tried to break his hands in a busy street in Madrid).

Finally, there's his amazing virtuosity as a guitar player. On the one hand, he is an extremely expressive player who almost sings on the instrument, probably due to his frustrated childhood dream of becoming a cantaor (listen to what he does on "Río Ancho" from 1:06 onwards). His innovations harmony-wise are also talked about, but they seem to be only in the context of Flamenco, like in these sevillanas. Personally, where I think Paco is really astounding, is in the rhythmic side of his music. This is especially evident when he plays accompanied only by palmeros (hand-clappers) or percussionists. Just they way he moves on the chair makes it clear that the beat was his first priority. Attached to this, there's the almost super-natural facet of his playing: his hand coordination. At whatever speed he played, even though his right hand was usually close to the bridge, where strings are harder to play, and regardless of whatever he did with his left hand, he always sounded impossibly clean.

This is a cliché, and possibly one to avoid at all costs, but it is true that Francisco Sánchez is gone and Paco de Lucía is still here. In a few months, there will be a new, posthumous CD, devoted to copla, an old genre of Spanish song. If Paco could remove Flamenco from its touristy, stale odour, he could well do the same with copla, and give the final push to what Carlos Cano started before him, and wash off the presumed, and sometimes real, cosiness of this genre and some of its artists with Franco's regime. In any case, it will be almost impossible to judge this record with any sort of fairness.

After that, all his disciples and his fans will have to get used to a new landscape, to a new kind of light, to the absence of an absolute, almost infallible reference in a musical genre that is the result of centuries of slow simmering among different peoples, in southern Spain, between the last bit of the Mediterranean and the beginning of the Atlantic, and which Paco de Lucía took, in such a masterful way, to the world.

Rest in peace, Francisco Sánchez. Eternal thanks, Paco de Lucía.

~~~~~~

Alternative compilation of Paco's music on YouTube

~~~~~~

There's a new documentary on Paco by his own son, Curro Sánchez, coming later in the year. In the mean time, there are three titles worth seeking on line:

Francisco Sánchez - Paco de Lucía (Daniel Hernández/Jesús de Diego, 2003)

Light and Shade (Michael Meert, 1995)

Rito y geografía del cante flamenco (1973 - English subtitles)

~~~~~~

Note: the chronology in the article is based on the book included in the boxed set Integral de Paco de Lucía (Universal 0602498653914, 2003), by José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino Núñez.
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-29733716831712186362014-02-21T11:42:00.001Z2014-07-30T16:04:35.353+01:00Random Dameronia

Tadd Dameron, c. 1946-48
(Bill Gottlieb/LoC)

Jazz has improvisation at its core, true, but ignoring composition and arranging would be a gross oversimplification and a mis-representation of the music. One of the great composers in its great tradition was Tadd Dameron, born on a day like this in 1917.

This is just a random sample of his compositions.

(YouTube / Spotify playlists)

Tadd Dameron-Fats Navarro Sextet: "Our Delight" (1948)

Harlan Leonard and His Rockets: "Dameron Stomp" (1940)

Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra: "Good Bait" (1947)

Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio: "If You Could See Me Now" (1965)

Stan Getz (feat. Jimmy Gourley on guitar): "Lady Bird" (1959)

Cannonball Adderley (con Nat Adderley): "Stay On It" (1959)
<object width="540" height="40" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="gsSong2536869879" name="gsSong2536869879"><param name="movie" value="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=25368698&style=wood&p=0" /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="540" height="40"><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=25368698&style=wood&p=0" />Stay on It by Cannonball Adderley on Grooveshark</object></object>

~

Dizzy Gillespie (feat. Charlie Parker): "Hot House" (1945)
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-5449274421892275182014-02-17T13:00:00.000Z2014-02-17T13:36:48.353ZND — Carlos Montoya: From St. Louis to Seville (and a book...)

Carlos Montoya: From St. Louis to Seville
(RCA/Victor LPM-1986)

This new entry in the infrequent series Notes on discography (ND) is about an early experiment in jazz-flamenco fusion. From St. Louis to Seville is an album by Carlos Montoya published in 1959, at a time when the recording business was booming partly thanks to the mass introduction of stereo and hi-fi, flamenco had began to be well known in the US, and jazz was going through a sweet spot in its history. The significance of this LP is more historical than musical, given the context of both flamenco (think Sabicas) or jazz at the time, or even the meeting of jazz and Spanish music arranged by Miles Davis and Gil Evans about a year later in their Sketches of Spain.

In any case, what concerns us here is discographical data, which have not been properly published, as far as I know. Without access to the session ledgers, I cannot provide matrix and take numbers, but from the back cover of the original LP we know that it was recorded on November 3, 1958, at RCA Studio A.

The original album does not give any hint on the personnel. We know who provides the flamenco, but not who brings in the jazz.

However, Montoya was interviewed by Grover Sales for Jazz — A Quarterly of American Music ("No Many Volts", pp. 120-123, issue no.2, Spring 1959). There, Sally Montoya, Carlos's wife says:

"Carlos just recorded the first Flamenco jazz record for Victor, with Osie Johnson and Milt Hinton and Barry Galbraith on electric guitar. A most relaxed and informal session. The other musicians said it was unique in their experience."

Leaving aside the sometimes cringing tone of the interview (Sales chooses to transcribe Montoya's broken English literally), it's interesting to see that RCA gave the royal treatment to Montoya for this experiment (Galbraith-Hinton-Johnson were possibly the busiest rhythm section in NYC at the time, excellent at both playing jazz and sight-reading scores). The interview is also a rare portrait of a Spanish musician in the midst of a promotional tour of the States.

All in all, the data for this record are as follows (subject to whatever the original ledgers say):

Date of recording: Monday, November 3, 1958.
Location: RCA Studio A, Manhattan, New York, NY.
(Address: 155 E. 24th St.)

Personnel: Carlos Montoya (Spanish guitar), Barry Galbraith (electric guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Osie Johnson (drums).

Jasmine records in the UK has just reissued this album as part of a 2-CD set called Flamenco Fury (Jasmine JASC753). It's available on Spotify too (tracks 1-10). This is the opening track:

BOOK ALERT!

For those interested in jazz, flamenco, and everything in-between, Dr. Juan Zagalaz (UCLM) is working on a book (in Spanish) about Flamenco and jazz. Until it's out, you may whet your appetite with his scholarly article (in English) about Chick Corea and Paco de Lucía, published in the prestigious Journal of Jazz Studies. For Spotify users, most of the music mentioned in the article can be listened to in these two playlists: albums / tunes.
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-23550940370153363952014-02-15T10:53:00.000Z2014-02-15T11:10:34.166ZVideo alert: Birdland (TV, 1992)

Birdland was a TV show aired in 1992, produced in the UK by BBC Lionheart, and also aired in the US on Bravo. The shows are about 30-minutes long and the music is interspersed with interviews carried out, off-camera, by well-known British critic John Fordham. In at least some of the shows, US and UK were paired and sometimes played together. This is not only quite a snapshot from over 20 years ago, but a nice chance to see some young, fresh faces.

Five of those shows have cropped up on YouTube in the last few days. The shows are, in no particular order,

Herbie Hancock (w/ Ira Coleman-b, Tony Williams-d)
Wayne Shorter (Jason Rebello-kb, Tracy Wormworth-b, Terri Lynne Carrington-d)
(link)

Branford Marsalis (w/Kenny Kirkland-p, Bob Hurst-b, Jeff 'Tain' Watts-d)
Julian Joseph (w/Alec Dankworth-b, Mark Mondesir-d)
(link)

Steve Coleman Five Elements (w/David Gilmore-g, James Weidman-kb, Reggie Washington-b, Tommy Campbell-d) /
Steve Williamson (w/Tony Remy-g, Joe Bashorun-kb, Gary Crosby-b, Steve Washington-d)
(link)

Ornette Coleman & Prime Time (Ken Wessell-g, Chris Rosenberg-g, Dave Bryant-kb, Al McDowell-b, Denardo Coleman-d, Badal Roy-tabla)
Cassandra Wilson-Cleveland Watkiss (w/Rod Williams-p, Kevin Bruce Harris-b, Mark Johnson-d)
(link)

Don Cherry & Multikulti (w/ Peter Apfelbaum-fl-ts-p, Bo Freeman-b, Hamid Drake-d-perc)
(link)

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-76907859386896541042014-02-10T09:00:00.000Z2014-02-10T09:00:01.627ZJazz is... / Jazz is not...

That is the last paragraph of Martin Williams's review of the film I Want to Live (IMDB, Wiki), published on The Jazz Review (May 1959, p. 39).

This and other issues of The Jazz Review, a short-lived but groundbreaking magazine, can be read at the Jazz Studies Online website. You can download a PDF of the issue above, here.
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-17992119463380835192014-02-07T10:43:00.000Z2014-02-07T11:25:47.747ZA radio broadcast from Birdland 1952

Kai Winding pictured by Bill Gottlieb, c. January 1947

In his Past Daily website, Gordon Skene has recently uploaded a NBC broadcast from September 9, 1952, with two bands, a quartet led by Pete Brown, and a sextet with Kai Winding at the helm. Tracks and personnel are, as introduced by the MC, as follows:

Pete Brown (alto sax), Sir Reginald Ashley (piano), Leonard Gaskin (b), Hayward Jackson (d).

  00:34 How High the Moon
 03:36 Strike Up the Band
 07:13 Perdido

 Kai Winding (trombone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Horace Silver (piano), Gene Ramey (bass), Ed Shaughnessy (drums)

  12:37 Always
 19:50 Stardust
 23:06 Rifftide (How High the Moon)

The music in this broadcast may be a bit disappointing, or perhaps some of us forget that not everything from the past is a masterpiece. Even so, it's better than OK, despite the short sets, the rather conventional songlists and the striking youth of some future stars like Silver and McLean, 24 and 21 respectively. You can actually hear the MC asking their names during the announcements:

"... fellow at the piano is named Silver, right?
... Horace Silver, and the fellow on alto...
...Jackie McLean"
Because he's not so well known, Pete Brown's set is more interesting, especially since his own records place him closer to R&B than bebop.

This radio broadcast, a real blast from the past, can be heard here.

Past Daily is here, and also on Facebook and Twitter.Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-46757268026833117782014-02-01T10:00:00.000Z2014-02-01T12:36:54.261ZA 60th birthday of rock guitar (possibly)
Fans of any kind of music just love a good discussion on pioneers, on who was the first to do something, and none more so than electric guitar fans. The heroic, macho player, not too different from characters in James Bond or Western movies (guitar slingers, guitar heroes...), lends itself to this kind of speculation.

One such discussion about the first guitar hero recently involved sailing upstream your typical "great man" narrative. Take, say, Eddie Van Halen. Hendrix. That kind of revered, popular guitarist. Jeff Beck. Clapton. Electric wizards with very heavy blues leanings. Creators of new sonic worlds on a fairly new equipment and its complements, of new techniques, new resources, uniquely able to stand in front of tens of thousands mesmerized people. Mike Bloomfield, co-conspirator of Bob Dylan's electrified and electrifying appearance in Newport. And then, circa 1960, the tracks seem to disappear. However, if I had to point to an early example of really outrageous guitar, combining a very early date of recording and release to the public, and ground-breaking playing, my vote would go for a tune recorded 60 years ago today. This one:

(Play as LOUD as possible)

Yep. That is "Space Guitar", a tune Johnny 'Guitar' Watson recorded, two days short of his 19th birthday, on February 1, 1954. It was released the following month as by "Young John Watson" on the Federal label as single #12175 (b/w "Half Pint A-Whiskey").

Young John Watson

Now, this kind of story makes a good headline and can provoke discussions and arguments, which can be fun but are ultimately pointless. However, I find it interesting that "Space Guitar" is not better known. Ponder the context: it was recorded a good half-year before Elvis waxed "That's All Right, Mama", a couple of months before Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", and years before the "surf guitar" boom. Of the early rock'n'rollers, Eddie Cochran had been recording since the previous year, but as proficient as he was on the guitar, his style was completely clean, closer to country players like Merle Travis. Even Jimmy Bryant, with his stratospheric Telecaster, wasn't a match for Watson's exuberance.

Across the tracks, I can only think of Texans-in-California like T-Bone Walker, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, or Pee Wee Crayton. All of them recorded instrumental numbers before Watson (like "Strollin' with Bones", "Okie Dokie Stomp", or "Dizzy"/"Texas Hop", respectively), but their sound and attack are cleaner than Watson's. Both Crayton and Brown were Walker's followers (there was no other way around it) and played clean like the master. The only difference may be in Brown's using his fingers instead of a plectrum, which gives a "fatter" attack. Watson seems to have used his fingers too, not a plectrum. That said, Watson's triplets on "Space..." come straight from T-Bone too.

Watson is also far from other players around that era, like the young BB King or the even younger Earl Hooker. Regarding sound and attack, there's Guitar Slim (who Watson knew and respected — "Now, Slim was deadly. You didn't wanna fuck with Slim."*), slide master Elmore James, and Howlin' Wolf's sideman Willie Johnson, but as far as I know none of these recorded anything even close to what Watson does on "Space Guitar". Freddie King and, especially, Albert Collins were still a few years away, and even Chuck Berry was keeping things pretty civil with "Maybellene".

Despite this evidence for his status as a pioneer, Watson is hardly visible in the pantheon of electric blues guitarists. The fact that his "classic" years are quite a mess (hard data on his recordings are poorly preserved and there's no reissue comprising all his early stuff), his eclecticism (venturing into other styles of music, including funk in the 1970s), and that he was more than just a guitar player, may account for his falling into oblivion. He spent his life on the road, and he admitted in an interview that he "made some mistakes, but who the hell hasn't? Went a little over the top, but music is always over the top. [At] least the kind I like."* He actually died on the stage, on May 17, 1996 at the Blues Café in Yokohama, Japan. He was 61.

Like Walker, Crayton, and Brown, Watson was a Texan in L. A. He started out as a pianist well-rooted in boogie-woogie. His earliest recordings, at age 17, were for West Coast tenor man Chuck Higgins, for whom he played piano and also sang on a few sides. As a leader, he played both piano and guitar for a while (he could also play sax) but soon he stuck to the six strings. A quick study by all accounts, he watched and learnt from his rich musical environment, got some producing tips from West Coast legend Maxwell Davis, and off he went. He may have not been the slickest of the bunch, but his early R&B stuff is as compelling as anyone's at the time.

"Space Guitar" was an oddity, not only in the scene at the time, but in his own discography (although his recordings of standards with strings from 1961-1962, or his samba on "I'll Remember April" are up there too), with his outlandish and very early use of reverb, his whole-neck glissandi, his talking guitar and other noises, and his stop-time quote of "Dragnet" (popular then because of the radio and TV shows, and the recent hit by Ray Anthony).

As I said, there's not one reissue of Watson's records comprising all his early music, so I've put together this playlist of his recordings from 1952 to 1963, including all he did with Chuck Higgins. Etta James, who toured with Watson, insisted that he was a huge influence on her singing, especially on ballads, and I think you'll find more than a passing resemblance to what Mick Jagger would later do with the Stones.

Whether or not "Space Guitar" is the first instance of rock guitar, here it is, with most of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's early recordings, 1952-1963.

* Quotes come from David Ritz's liner notes to Blues Masters: The Best of Johnny "Guitar" Watson (Rhino R2 75702)
Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-38263950189965023372014-01-09T14:00:00.000Z2014-01-09T16:58:09.994ZKenny Clarke's centenary

Kenny Clarke (source: drumlessons.com)

Kenny Clarke, born one hundred years ago today, is one of the great drummers in the history of jazz. Any reference text will tell you about his role in the development of be-bop, his bomb-dropping, his shifting of the rhythm from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal and all that, which is correct and just fine, but there's much more.

Like Don Byas, he's one of those musicians whose place in posterity has been diminished because they left the US, the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. Before that, he played in the major leagues, he was part of the original line-up of the Modern Jazz Quartet (the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band), with whom he recorded this

which seems to be the basis for what Miles Davis recorded as "Two Bass Hit". Interestingly, in the MJQ's version Milt Jackson quotes Clarke's "Epistrophy", a tune he co-signed with Thelonious Monk with origins in Minton's and the sessions with Charlie Christian (the theme was figured out by Clarke while playing some phrases Christian taught him on the ukulele).

A favourite piece of Clarke is the famous recording of "Topsy" from Minton's, with Christian on guitar, Monk on piano, and Nick Fenton on bass. Clarke's time, swing, and punctuation are flawless, but do listen for the way he interacts with Christian. That's peerless, on the spot creativity.

Another personal favourite is the opening track in Bud Powell's A Portrait of Thelonious, recorded in Paris and produced by Cannonball Adderley. If I'm not mistaken, on "Off Minor" Clarke plays exclusively brushes on the snare drum throughout. Lesser musicians would be limited by this. Not Clarke:

Talking about Adderley, he and Clarke went back to 1955, when the saxophonist made his first ever recording, for the Savoy label; Clarke was the unofficial house drummer for the label, and Cannonball and his brother Nat are both featured in one of Clarke's groups.

As Kenny Burrell explains in Gary Carner's Joy Road: An Annotated Discography of Pepper Adams (Scarecrow Press, 2012), Clarke was instrumental in the introduction of a number of Detroit jazzmen in the New York scene, through his Savoy album Kenny Clarke Meets the Detroit Jazzmen, featuring the then unknown talents of Burrell himself, Pepper Adams, Tommy Flanagan, and Paul Chambers.

These are just small pieces of Clarke's long and fruitful musical life, there's much, much more worth exploring.

I leave you for now with a duet with another unjustly forgotten emigree, organ magician Lou Bennett.

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111788345564582878.post-18578246748761453842014-01-07T14:00:00.000Z2014-03-26T13:42:37.309ZDuke Ellington at the piano

"[…] Duke, in spite of what some people might think, was an excellent pianist."

(Pianist Hank Jones, in an interview with Ted Panken)

A lot has been said in recent weeks about Duke Ellington on the Internet. A new biography by Terry Teachout and a review of it in The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik have raised a few eyebrows and made some people angry. I haven't read Teachout's book, but I know Gopnik's review. The problem with it is that he seems not to have listened to much of Ellington's colossal output.

Some of the criticism towards those texts have to do with Ellington's relationship with his writing and arranging companion, Billy Strayhorn, and his piano playing. I think this recording of Strayhorn's "Lotus Blossom", made after his death, speaks volumes about both aspects.

The introduction to "Take the A Train" in this video is also telling about Ellington and Strayhorn

In the beginning of his article, Gopnik calls Ellington "a dance-band impresario who played no better than O.K. piano". Incidentally, a few months ago I compiled a playlist showcasing Duke's piano. There are solo pieces, duets, trios, and a quartet (with a guitar). For no particular reason, I decided against including horns (there are quartet sessions featuring tenor men Paul Gonsalves and John Coltrane). In total, there are 168 tracks (about ten hours) of ducal piano recorded from 1928 to 1972, in chronological order. All the usual suspects (Money Jungle, Piano in the Foreground…) are included, plus other bits and pieces from a number of albums and compilations. I think it's fair to say that he played more than "O.K. piano", even if he wasn't a full-time piano player. I'd also say that his stylistic arch is no less than astonishing.

I hope you enjoy Duke's piano:

Fernando Ortiz de Urbinahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Why Build a List?
There is a phrase you'll hear over and over: The money is in the list. You might get tired of hearing it, but – it's the truth!
First of all, let's answer the question, "What is a list?"
A list in Internet marketing terms is a database of contact information for your prospects. So if you have a product or promote products about gardening and I sign up for your list, I'm a prospect that you can market to repeatedly until I unsubscribe.
So why is building a list so important?
Let's say you start off as an affiliate marketer. You find a niche you truly enjoy and you start working what you've learned into some traffic for your affiliate links.
Over a period of 30 days, you funnel 5,000 prospects from the World Wide Web who are interested in your niche straight through your affiliate link to the product owner's site.
They even buy – yea! You've made a 50% commission with a 2% conversion rate. That means 2 out of every 100 people you sent bought the product, and your share was $26.00 (as an example). You earned a cool $2,600 this month – good for you!
But you're leaving money on the table. Those 100 people who bought from your 5,000 clicks? They're now on the product owner's list, not yours. So what he's going to do is send them more offers over the coming weeks.
After all, they are proven buyers. Over the next 30 days, those buyers fork over some more money for products that complement the original one they bought. That money goes to the product owner, not you – because you passed on building a list the first time around.
|A better way to build an Internet marketing business is to start with a list from day one. Before you let a single person slip through your link without capturing their name and email address, have your system set up to build a list.
Why should the product owner get to cash in on that person again and again when you're the one who brought him the customer in the first place? Stake claim to each prospect and leverage your relationship with him for future sales and commissions.
Your list is your most valuable asset to your business – that's why build a list.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
An early fall heat wave, with temperatures reaching 95 to 100 degrees, is not what most people expected.
In West Sacramento, the Vierra family was busy setting up their annual pumpkin patch along South River Road.
Dave's Pumpkin Patch opens in West Sacramento this weekend, but workers there didn't expect 100-degree weather.
Although temperatures are reaching the high 90s in the region, public pools are closed for the season.


text:
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Monday marks the start of the Arizona Cardinals' offseason conditioning program under new strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris. They'll see two new faces in the weight room this year in Morris, who has a long history with Bruce Arians from...Blog | April 21, 2014
Two Cardinals trades that could happenJosh Weinfuss
On Monday, my colleague Field Yates put together a list of five trades that could happen (it's an Insider story) and one included the Arizona Cardinals. Yates, who is an ESPN NFL Insider, made the case for the Cardinals to send defensive tackle D...Blog | April 01, 2014
Surprise, surprise: Fitz doesn't drop ballsJosh Weinfuss
Larry Fitzgerald may be 30 years old, but that doesn't mean he's not as sure-handed as ever. Pro Football Focus computed the drop rates for wide receivers, tight ends and running backs this week and it should be no surprise who had the lowest rate...Blog | March 28, 2014
Updated look at 2014 Cardinals lineupJosh Weinfuss
Two weeks ago, free agency kicked off with a flurry of moves. The Arizona Cardinals joined the frenzy almost immediately. During the last 14 days, the Cardinals have been steadily active and made improvements to their lineup -- some significant, some...Blog | March 25, 2014
Jake Ballard could make play as a starterJosh Weinfuss
TEMPE, Ariz. -- One staple to any Bruce Arians-coached offense is having two tight ends who can produce -- and preferably at high levels. Last season, however, that was not the case as injuries marred Rob Housler's season and Jim Dray was more of ...Blog | March 11, 2014
Signing Carlson worth the risk to CardsJosh Weinfuss
One thing we knew for certain this offseason was that the Arizona Cardinals needed help at tight end. Some relief came Friday when the team announced it signed former Minnesota Vikings tight end John Carlson to a two-year contract. Terms of the deal ...Blog | March 07, 2014
2013 Roster in Review: Tight endJosh Weinfuss
Starters: Jim Dray, Rob Housler Backups: Jake Ballard, Kory Sperry Under contract in 2014: Housler Cash committed in '13: $2.28 million Cap committed in '13: $2.46 million Recap: What was hailed as Rob Housler's coming out party didn't...Blog | March 07, 2014
Arizona Cardinals season wrap-upJosh Weinfuss
Arrow indicates direction team is trending. Final Power Ranking: 9 Preseason Power Ranking: 26 Biggest surprise: No one expected Arizona to struggle like it did throughout the first half of the season because an offensive mastermind, Cardin...Blog | January 02, 2014
Carson Palmer rests, but ready for SeattleJosh Weinfuss
TEMPE, Ariz. - Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer watched his two backups run through their drills during the open portion of Arizona's practice Wednesday without a helmet or shoulder pads. The 33-year-old said his left ankle, which he sprained S...Blog | December 18, 2013
Ballard to start in place of HouslerJosh Weinfuss
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This may be the chance Jake Ballard needed. As has been a trend around the Cardinals this season, another player will have an opportunity to see the field because of an injury to a teammate. Ballard will start Sunday against th...Blog | December 15, 2013