22-April-1999 - Kelly Reed writes:

This may seem unbelievable, but for almost four years I have been searching for the name of the group who performed a certain song on a local jazz radio station. The name of the song is "Adagio in G Minor" by Albinoni, but this was a jazz version of the piece. I do not know the name of the jazz station or the DJ's name. It is a long song (almost 9 minutes), and it features, most notably, a trumpet(s), and also organ, strings and percussion. The first of the song is very slow but then in the middle picks up very fast, with the trumpet leading. Toward the end, the song slows back down with the trumpet fading.

I have searched thousands of web sights using "Adagio in G Minor" AND "Jazz" as keywords, but with no luck. I have sent many letters and spoke to many jazz people with no luck. I have the song recorded from the radio, but it is now in very bad condition from being overplayed. I do know that the DJ that night used the words "Real Jazz" throughout the program (but it was not Bob Parloche). I would gladly pay $100 to you or anyone else who could find the name of this band and where I could get a copy of the CD.

My gut feeling is this is foreign (Europe or South America), although I can't be sure. The trumpet playing was exceptional. One more clue: I recorded the song from radio, but the tape ran out before the DJ could tell the name of the group, however, BEFORE this song ("Adagio...") was played, I did record this much of the DJ talking: Note: THIS IS NOT THE SONG, THIS WAS THE SONG BEFORE: DJ: "...Robinson with Chris Flore and his CD titled "City Life (Lights?)" with John Bunch, John Webber, Chuck Riggs and John Webber. Now back to real jazz." Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Kelly, we conducted our secret recipe search and came up with a jazz recording of Albinoni's "Adagio in G minor". It and several other classical pieces were interpreted by saxophonist Charlie Mariano on his album entitled, "Adagio" (Lipstick 8924, 1995). We were unable to find a jazz trumpeter who had performed a jazz version of Albinoni's "Adagio". The good thing is that you can go to CDNow's website (http://www.cdnow.com), conduct an artist search on "Charlie Mariano", select "Adagio", and if you have RealPlayer on your computer, select "Adagio" and listen to a 1 minute clip. This way you can rule out this particular performance. At any rate, give this version a spin and see what you think. Thanks for the question and thanks for listening.

If any of our readers feel can add anything, please write to Kelly Reed.

22-April-1999 -- Thom Vourlas writes:

My friend is offering a $50 REWARD to anyone who can help him find an old jazz song. Unfortunately, details are sketchy at best. Here's what he knows: The cut was first heard by him on radio around 1973, so the album was likely no earlier than late 60s or early 70s. The album cover was all white, except for a "symbol" about 1"-2" big that was off-center on the front. The track was the last cut on the album and was about 7 to 11 minutes long. The main component was a saxophone that was also hooked up to a voice-box, so that during the verses the guy would "sing" the song through the sax. A six-string bass guitar accompanied the sax, but he doesn't know what other instruments were on it. The fade-out was quite long. Not much to go by, but he had it on a tape that accidentally got erased, so that's why the reward. HE WANTS TO FIND IT!!

Thom, we at All About Jazz like to think of ourselves as anthropologists and archeologists. When a reader approaches us with a question, we have several researchers who love nothing more than answering questions with nothing but crumbs for leads. Having said all of that, we found your friend's question very difficult. About all we can do is provide you and he a couple of leads.

The artist that immediately springs to mind is Eddie Harris. Harris was renown for using electronic gimmicks with his tenor saxophone to make it talk. He was experimenting with the Echoplex and other electronic products in the late '60s and early '70s, the same period that your friend was listening. The recordings released during this period were: "Electrifying Eddie Harris", Atlantic 1968; "High Voltage", Atlantic 1968; "Plug Me In", Atlantic 1968; "Silver Cycles", Atlantic 1969; "Free speech", Atlantic 1969; "Swiss Movement", Atlantic 1970; "Live at Newport" Atlantic 1970; "Come On Down" Atlantic 1971; "Instant Death", Atlantic 1971; "Second Movement" Atlantic 1971; "Eddie Harris Sings the Blues", Atlantic 1972; "Sings the Blues", Atlantic 1973; "Is it In?" Atlantic 1973; "Eddie Harris in the UK", Atlantic 1973. According to the All Music Guide Web site, none of these recordings are currently issued.

Another artist to consider is John Klemmer. Klemmer used electronics slightly after Harris, but did record approximately during the same period. A non-jazz possibility could be A.C. Reed, tenorist with Albert Collins and then as a solo act. He often used electronic effects in his recordings.

At any rate, Thom, this was about all that we could come up with. Bumping it to the readership: if there are any readers with other resources Thom might exploit, please write to Thom Vourlas.

22-April-1999 -- Heinz R Huber writes:

I have been searching for any information about the song Ben Bernie's song "Sweet Georgia Brown". Can you help me-do you have any information about this old standard?

Heinz, before proceeding to your question (or maybe to stall because we don't have a ready answer) we wish to let our readership know who you are associated with. Mr. Huber is allied with the Camerata Köln, one of the finest European ensembles specializing in Baroque and Classical chamber music with an emphasis on music composed for woodwinds. They have recorded a wide variety of wind music of Bach, Handel and Telemann and are currently preparing Telemann's 6 Concerti for Harpsichord, Transverse Flute and Basso Continuo and 6 Suites for Violin, Transverse Flute and Basso Continuo for the Deustch Harmonia Mundi label.

Now, about "Sweet Georgia Brown". We consulted with our Editor of the "Letters to the Editor" section and discovered he was no wealth of knowledge when it came to this standard. "Sweet Georgia Brown" was composed by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey in 1925. Ben Bernie was a noted bandleader who was most popular during the late 1920's and the 1930's. His band appeared in the 1934 movie 'Shoot the Works', and in the 1935 film 'Stolen Harmony'. The song is a standard that has been covered hundreds of times by artists as diverse as Benny Goodman and Archie Shepp. There are 470 citations for "Sweet Georgia Brown" in the "All Music Guide to Jazz." Well, that's about all we could come up with! Dropping back to punt...

If there are any readers who can help, please contact Heinz at Camerata.Koeln@t-online.de.

22-April-1999 -- J. Grady Long writes:

Hello, I'm a college student from Miami University researching a project trying to connect bebop jazz with public memory. I have been trying to find popular representations of bebop and the performers who made it live. Things like Clint Eastwood's "Bird", the documentary "Straight No Chaser", and the documentary "A Great Day in Harlem" are about all I the examples that I have been able to find.

I am looking for things that, accurate or not, are in the public's eye...as close to mainstream as possible. I want to view popular commentary on bop and see how it lives with us today in the late 1990s. I realize that the whole idea behind Bebop was to get out of the mainstream, but I am interested in just how much the general public knows about bop, and how they know it. Can you think of any 'popular' representations of bop? Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Hi Grady. We have been getting provocative questions like yours more and more in the last number of months. It is satisfying to see jazz being considered in an academic light as something other than pop culture. This music and its composers and practitioners are slowly but surely inching their way into the realm of "classical" or "serious music" consideration. Oops, gotta get off that soap box!

You have got a good start with the films that you have cited as popular representations of Bebop. We will give some examples that may not address Bebop per se but will address jazz in general. One source for jazz videos, either documentaries or performances is "The All Music Guide to Jazz". This source coupled with a service like Amazon.com can probably secure about any of these videos that are currently in print. These videos on the whole tend to be too narrow in scope to be considered "mainstream", but there should be some that rise to that description.

Staying close to the mainstream, there are four additional suggestions we can make. Bernard Tavernier's film "'Round Midnight", staring Dexter Gordon would be an excellent addition to your list. This movie stabbed deep into the heart of the mainstream as evidenced by Gordon's Academy Award nomination. "'Round Midnight" was based on Francis Paudras' book, "Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell". The character of Dale in the movie was a blend of Lester Young and Powell, both deeply troubled, alcoholic geniuses not appreciate in their homeland, seeking and finding recognition abroad.

Bert Stern's "Jazz on a Summer's Day" document the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Included in this video is Thelonious Monk playing his "Blue Monk", Anita O'Day scatting her way through over the top performance of "Sweet Georgia Brown". We dump this into the mainstream category because of its prominent marketing in the printed and on-line Barnes and Noble catalog. Bruce Weber's "Let's Get Lost" focused on the life of Chet Baker shortly before his death. This documentary was critically acclaimed and received a good bit of media attention after it was released. And finally, the most mainstream of all, Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues". this film centered on a trumpeter (Denzel Washington)-saxophone (Wesley Snipes) duo that was part of a quintet that looked and sounded conspicuously like Miles' Second Great Quintet with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.

As a final note, there have been many advertisements using a jazz theme. Camel Cigarettes would show a sweating bass player with a camel between his lips. This bass player would be dressed impeccably, certainly a mainstream concept of the archetypal jazz musician based on the well dressed participants in the Bebop revolution. Vince Guaraldi's superb sound track to the Charlie Brown specials is another example of jazz seeping in to the mainstream collective unconscious. We wish you luck with your project. Please keep us posted on your progress.

If there are any readers with other suggestions Grady might be able to site, please write to J. Grady Long

For those interested in "jazz on film" see our reader's recommendations on what to rent and buy. .

21-April-1999 -- Suzette Randolph writes:

I have had a question for a few years but really nowhere to direct it until I came upon this site. I have listened to Jazz since I was a senior in high school. I have heard the term "Birdland" through out that time and wondered what it meant. I believe there is a musician named Bird but in the context that the word is used it almost sounds like a being all its own--almost like a culture within Jazz. What is this and who can I listen to become familiar with this style. Most recently I have been listening to Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Terrance Blanchard, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample, Gerald Albright, Urban Knights etc. Are these artist considered "smooth jazz" artist? I would like to add to my CD collection and I would like to begin buying music put out by earlier artist like T. Monk, Mingus, Coltrane and Parker to name a few. They all have so much music out there I do not know where to start. Would you suggest that I start from their earlier works and move up or from their most recent (latest) works and move down. Or would you suggest I start with a "Best of" CD and choose music from that. Thanx, Jazzione [Suzette]

Suzette, Bluesette, you have a whole passel of questions and we are going to answer them, one at time. First- Bird. Bird was the moniker of Bebop alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. It was shortened from "Yardbird", a slang term for a chicken. Legend has it that Parker and his bandmates were on a road trip between gigs and hit a chicken. Parker had the driver turn around and go back and get the chicken which they took to a friend's house with whom the band was staying and they dressed and fried the chicken. From that time on, Charlie Parker was known as "Yardbird" or just plain "Bird".

Second- Birdland was the name of a New York City Jazz Club that has existed in several incarnations since its opening in the early 1950s. It is located at 2745 Broadway in NYC. It is no surprise that you are acquainted with Birdland as it is almost part of our collective unconscious. It is a club that has been written about and recorded in. It has jazz compositions named after it (George Shearing's "Lullaby to Birdland" and Weather Report's "Birdland"). Third- Is the concept of "Bird" a subculture within the culture of Jazz? Yes, on several different levels. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were the pioneers of Bebop genre of Jazz that flourished between 1945 and 1955 and has left its permanent imprint on all Jazz since then.

Called "Modern Jazz" during its era, Bebop was a harmonic and rhythmic extension of traditional jazz that put great value on the soloist and improvisation. Thus, musically, the idea of Bird could represent a musical subculture within Jazz. On another plane, the idea of Bird represents the romantic ideal of the doomed genius. Parker's enormous talent was accompanied by a set of ferocious appetites, which included his addiction to heroin. A heroin chic existed during the heyday of Bebop Jazz just as it did 40 years later in Grunge Popular. Parker in many ways was the patron saint to the heroin culture. So great was his sway, that many musicians fell prey to the romantic notion that they too could play with such talent by emulating Parker and using heroin. The result was the loss of a generation of musicians to incarceration or death.

Fourth- of the individuals and groups you have most recently been listening to, we are not sure that any could be considered "Smooth Jazz". The majority would fall into the Post Bop, Mainstream, and Contemporary brands of the music. All are fine musicians to be sure.

Now to the meat of the matter -- what music to buy. In deciding what music to buy by each of the musicians you mentioned we would suggest that you consult All About Jazz "Desert Island" picks, which detail the must-have disc lists of many of the staff and readers. Also, consulting a printed source such as the All Music Guide to Jazz or the Penguin Guide to Jazz, both of which rate recordings, is a good way to go. Buying a "greatest hits" is always an inexpensive way to identify what period in a given musicians career you prefer. But just for drill, we will suggest a single recording for each of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker just to get you started.

Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Live at the It Club Columbia/Legacy 65288, 1998.

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um Columbia Jazz Masterpieces 40648, 1986.

John Coltrane - The Ultimate Blue Train Blue Note 53428, 1997.

Charlie Parker - The Legendary Dial Masters Jazz Classics 5003, 1996.

If there are any other readers who would like to put their two cents worth in, write to Suzette Randolph.

01-April-1999 -- Jaime D. Casinova writes:

I was flipping through the channels on my television last night when I happened into a "Jazz Central" program already in session. There was the most incredibly soothing jazz music on there and I'd just love to purchase that for while I'm driving in cross-town traffic....but.....I can't seem to be able to find out who this particularly happening cat was. It turns out that this was on the BET on cable but I had no luck at their website so I figured you guys might be my last chance If I ever want to hear this guy again. The program was aired at 2:00 A.M. on Thursday [March 18] night. Well...technically that would be Friday [March 18] morning but I'm sure you know what I mean. Anyway If you could help me with this guys name I would VERY much appreciate it. His name sounded something like Pizzarelli or something but it definitely started with a P and had a couple of Z's in the middle of his last name. I hope maybe that can help a bit. Thanks for your kind attention and may peace surround you and yours.

Jaime, first, thank you for the kind thoughts in your closing salutation. Secondly, this is your lucky day. We think who you are talking about is most likely John Pizzarelli, though it could be his father Buck also. Both are fine jazz guitar players, with John being a durable vocalist and competent actor also. Their latest duo recording, "Contrasts" is reviewed in this [March] issue of All About Jazz.com by C. Michael Bailey. Specifically, we think it is John you are thinking about because he has most recently been playing trio dates comprised of the music of Nat "King" Cole. In the 1993 he and his trio provided support for Frank Sinatra. Both of these facts support the smoothness of his brand of jazz. John's recordings are available through all of the major internet CD sources (CD Universe, CDNow, EVERYCD, Etc.).