COVID-19 Level 3: Day 15

It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get through the entire set before heading back to work. We’ll see I guess. In the meanwhile, disc 6 had a spin today, moving us into sessions from 1940 and 1941. Plenty of favourites here “Swing Brother Swing”, “Body and Soul”, “Laughing at Life”, “Time on My Hands”, “Practice Makes Perfect”. There was a time when I’d sing 3 versions of “Them There Eyes” back to back; Louis Armstrong’s version from 193, the Kansas City Session version with Freddie Green singing, and Billie’s version. Wild stuff and highly recommended. I’ll have to have a think about commuting music in the coming days. I’ll probably use the Dizzy stuff as a starting point. I have some piano albums I want to give some time as well (Elmo Hope, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Horace Silver).

COVID-19 Level 3: Day 9

More Billie Holiday on Columbia was on the menu this morning. The box set contains so many songs that you never hear these days and that in itself is refreshing. And of course there are plenty of old favourites - “Pennies from Heaven” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (also check out Pops’ version from the early 30s too - amazing phrasing). “This Year’s Kisses” was on a disc I had pretty early on as I was getting into jazz. Still a favourite. Irving Fazola’s clarinet tone on the session from September 1936 (“A Fine Romance” etc) popped out at me this morning. What was it with New Orleans and clarinetists? Is it the whole opera and the blues thing? Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Edmond Hall, Barney Bigard, George Lewis.... not a bad run

Yesterday I mentioned how the Billie Holiday sessions don’t feel like all-star outings. Well a bunch of the Dizzy Gillespie albums I have are along the lines of “Dizzy meets” type albums. And those jam-type sessions can fall into the trap of spectacle rather than music making (like heaps of those videos of all-star jams at festivals during the 70s). Duets is blowin’ session Diz with his rhythm section (Ray and Tommy Bryant and Charlie Persip) along with Sonny Rollins for two blues and two Sonny Stitt for two afro-cuban numbers. I think I would have preferred it the other way around. Or perhaps that’s just me favouring Rollins over Stitt. The upside with Sonny Side Up.... you get to hear both on all the tunes. And I’ll get to that one soon enough.

Jazz April: week 3 listening

Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings (Columbia)
It was hard to go wrong kicking off week 3 with a classic. Throughout the week I made my way through all four discs. Armstrong's breaks, stop time passages, phrasing, elasticity and tone worked their magic like they always do. Essential listening.

Jimmy Giuffre: Free Fall (Columbia)
Giuffre's trio with Steve Swallow and Paul Bley is a favorite of mine and I can still remember hearing my introduction to the trio via 1961 (the ECM reissue of Fusion and Thesis). This led to Free Fall and while it didn't grab me the way the earlier work did, I stuck with it. This week I put it on for the first time in about a year, and I was reminded again just how different this group was in the 60s avant-garde crowd. Be sure to check out the live recordings from this trio released on HatOLOGY.

Yusef Lateef: Jazz Moods (Savoy)
Recorded in 1957, this was Lateef's first release as a leader (although his second album was from a slightly earlier session). The opening notes from the argol - a double-tubed reed instrument with a drone pipe and a melody pipe - grab your attention and it is maintained throughout the album with each of the five tunes hitting a different flavor - there's blues, modal, 7/4, pedal tones and the pairing of flute and Curtis Fuller's trombone is a color you don't hear too often. This was Lateef's working band at the time and its focussed sound is an important contributing factor to the album overall.

Steve Lacy/Steve Potts: Tips (Corbett vs Dempsey)
I wrote a little about my sole Record Store Day purchase here. 

Christian Weidner: The Inward Song (Pirouet)
Seeing that Christian has a new album (along with another as a sideman) due out on Pirouet, had me reaching for this quartet album from 2010. He has a superb alto tone and melodic sensibility with the bonus that he never overplays his hand - check him out! The drumming of Samuel Rohrer really popped out to me this week. There's a bunch of music on Pirouet that I want to check out including albums by Anna Webber and Joris Roelofs in addition to the two mentioned above.

Ran Blake: Ghost Tones (A-side Records)
Released last year, this album features different line-ups - ranging from solo piano to sextet - tackling material by or associated with George Russell (plus a couple of songs by Blake). While, I gave it one spin last week and three more this week, I haven't been able to get into it just yet. I'm not afraid of letting an album grow on me though, and I have a feeling this one might sneak up on me.

recent listing: october contrafacts

Lately I've been listening to a few contrafacts (tunes written on the chords of other tunes).  For the most part I have been looking for pre-bop contrafacts. Drop me a line if you know any good ones.

First up was checking out some tunes based on changes from "Tiger Rag" (which shares plenty in common with "Won't you come home Bill Bailey") - Duke Ellington was a fan - "Daybreak Express," "Hot & Bothered," "Braggin' In Brass" & "The Slippery Horn" come out of "Tiger Rag."
A couple of others "Tiger Rag" based tunes I've come across include Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than Hot" and Sidney Bechet playing "I'll Take That New Orleans Music" (Wilbur DeParis).

There are plenty based on "I Got Rhythm".... "The Jeep Is Jumpin" (Hodges/Ellington) "Apple Honey" (Woody Herman) "Seven Come Eleven" (Charlie Christian) "Shag" (Sidney Bechet) "Chant Of The Groove" (Coleman Hawkins).

Coleman Hawkins wrote a few contrafacts - "Bean Soup" (Tea For Two) "Bay-U-Bah" (Sweet Georgia Brown) "Bean At The Met" (How High The Moon) and I listened to his takes of a couple by Thelonious Monk too - "Rifftide" (aka Hackensack (Lady Be Good) & "Stuffy" (aka Stuffy Turkey (Stompin' At The Savoy).

Another based on Stompin' is "Byas A Drink" by Don Byas. He'ss a player I haven't listened to that much. I remember giving his famous duo with Slam Steward on I Got Rhythm quite a few listens, but that was some time ago.

A few different versions of "Moten Swing" (You're Driving Me Crazy) have been on, including Jay McShann (featuring Bird), Gene Ammons, Eddie Durham and Sonny Stitt.

The Count Basie band on "Dickies Dream" (I Found A New Baby - which seems to share a bit in common with "I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music" though I haven't sat down and tried working it out.)

Charles Minugs' band playing "Take The A Train" and "Exactly Like You" at the same time. This is from the album "Mingus Revisited" (aka Pre-Bird - Mingus wrote the pieces before he had heard bop) I hadn't heard this album in ages - I'll have to find time to have a listen to the rest of the album.

I didn't really listen to many of the bop melodies. One I did check out was Charlie Parker's "She Rote." For this the melody is over of pedal tone and the blowing in on the changes from "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" - I've been listening to Nat Cole's version with Stuff Smith and another by Roy Eldridge.

Aside from contrafacts I have also been listening to artists improvising on standard forms without stating the melody (and renaming the tune in the process). Again, I've pretty much been sticking to pre-bop stuff. If you know of any others - from any era - please let me know (I have the Tristano work pretty well covered).

A couple of favourites to start of with - Roy Eldridge & Chu Berry on "Sittin' In" (Tiger Rag) and "Forty-six West-52" (Sweet Georgia Brown)

Not as well known as his 1939 version Coleman Hawkins' "Rainbow Mist" (Body & Soul) from 1944 is worth checking out. Another one from Hawkins in the mid-40s is "Hawk Variations." I'm not totally sure on this one yet - it sounds as if Monk's "Round Midnight" makes and appearance in the 2nd half but I'm not sure of the 1st half yet..... suggestions? This is an excellent (and surprisingly not very well known) solo saxophone performance. Apparently this was recorded as a promo for Selmer saxophones.

Couldn't pass up a couple from Lester Young too - "Lester Swings" (Exactly Like You) and "Lester Blows Again" (Honeysuckle Rose).

straight ahead

I've spent this week at the Jazz Institute of Chicago's Straight Ahead Jazz Camp. A weeklong series of workshops aimed at jazz educators. I also attended Straight Ahead in 2011. The theme for 2013 was The Legacy of Louis Armstrong.
Here's a little of what went on throughout the week:

Ricky Riccardi

Ricky Riccardi, author of "What A Wonderful World" and chief archivist at Louis Armstrong House, made too Armstrong presentations on Day 1.
In His Own Words - snippets from Armstrong's private recordings (he made over 750 reel to reel tapes). An amazing insight into his private life. Recordings from home and on the road... talking to friends, listening to music, reading the newspaper, reading letters, arguing with his wife!

Cinematic Satch - rare video footage from the archives. A great chance to hear and see things that may never be released.




Dana Hall Modern Pathways: Exploring the multi-dimensional music of Andrew Hill. 
My knowledge of Hill's music is fairly limited (Point of Departure, Time Lines, Black Fire and a few other bits and pieces) and I felt this was a great presentation. Knowledgable, enthusiastic, warm, not too formal or technical but clear with a nice mix of talking, discussion and listening. 

The Collective Improvisation ensemble class was directed by Mwata Bowden.
Mwata brings great energy and passion to the music. He had his work cut out.... 2 flutes, 7 Saxes, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba, 4 Trumpets, 5 Guitars, 2 Drummers, 6 Pianists, and about 6 vocalists on stage together. It was a fun session running through Fletcher Henderson's "Jangled Nerves" and  Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' With Some BBQ." 

After School Matters Big Band

Back at home I had a listen to the Henderson band of 1936 take on "Jangled Nerves" - features some nice Chu Berry and Roy Eldridge and tight ensembles.

Wednesday we had lunch at Buddy Guy's Legends while listening to the After School Matters Gallery 37 Big Band. Over the summer break the band, made up of high school students, rehearses daily in Millennium Park.

Guitarist Mike Allemana is currently working towards his PhD - Von Freeman being the topic of his study and of his presentation this week. Mike detailed his apprenticeship under Freeman - first at jam sessions, then as a member of the band (for 15 years) and how Freeman mentored younger players. The presentation was a bit dry but full of good info and some sweet stories too. This is interesting and important information and it looks like Mike will be updating his progress on his we site.

Jose Diaz ran a great session for music teachers - full of practical advice. Jose got everyone involved working on rhythm via call and response, improvising with rhythm, layering rhythms, vocalizing rhythms. Later that afternoon he ran a rehearsal with the Jazz Links Youth Ensemble - a big band made up of kids aged about 10-15 or so. Jose had the kids vocalizing the rhythms of the parts. In fairly short time the bands phrasing had made great improvement.

Noteworthy Jazz Ensemble

Finishing off the last day was the Noteworthy Jazz Ensemble - a big band comprised of Chicago public school music teachers (many of whom we attendees at workshops). First up they sight-read through a dozen new-ish released big band charts (mostly levels 1-3 mostly). 

After lunch Noteworthy performed a set of music - Spain, Bernie's Tune, Royal Garden Blues, The Duke, Come Together, Afro Blue. This set was a lot more together than some of the sight reading.

The Rambler

All in all it was an interesting week. I only found one part disappointing - the four sessions involving Wycliffe Gordon. Gordon rambled through each of the hour and a half sessions occasionally touching upon the topic of Louis Armstrong. The last session was particularly brutal - an hour spent talking about what today's youth wear..... I was struggling to see the connection to "Satchmo, A World of Education." I expected a lot more from him. 

One thing I found interesting was the focus on the late(r) period of Armstrong...… in fact the early work (I feel the most important) barely got a mention all week at the classes I went to - Mwata Bowden being the only person I recall who's focus was on the early work.