What do the following five recordings have in common?
Stan Getz Plays (1951), the tenor saxophonist's first for Norman Granz's Clef label, which would soon become Verve. Here's Stella by Starlight...
Al Haig's Isn't It Romantic from Jazz Will O' the Wisp (1954), one of the pianist's most beautiful trio albums. Go here...
Jackie & Roy's Mountain Greenery (1955), which transformed jazz vocal harmony. Go here...
Which, by the way, was lifted by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1962. Go here...
Gerry Mulligan's Westwood Walk with his sextet (1956). Go here...
And Bob Brookmeyer's Arrowhead from The Street Swingers (1957). Go here...
Give up? Bill Crow (photo at top of post) was the bassist. From the early 1950s on, Bill was one of the finest first-call bassists in New York, recording and touring with some of the best ensembles of the decade, including groups led by Getz, Mulligan and Brookmeyer. Of course, Bill was on so many more great recordings, including his own. Today, he's a denizen of Facebook, posting on jazz or chiming in on others' posts. He's a treasure.
Late last week, Carl Woideck alerted me to a fabulous new documentary by Neal Miner on Bill. Here it is...
To read Bill's colorful account of the 1962 Benny Goodman tour of the Soviet Union, To Russia Without Love, go here.
Stan Getz Plays (1951), the tenor saxophonist's first for Norman Granz's Clef label, which would soon become Verve. Here's Stella by Starlight...
Al Haig's Isn't It Romantic from Jazz Will O' the Wisp (1954), one of the pianist's most beautiful trio albums. Go here...
Jackie & Roy's Mountain Greenery (1955), which transformed jazz vocal harmony. Go here...
Which, by the way, was lifted by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1962. Go here...
Gerry Mulligan's Westwood Walk with his sextet (1956). Go here...
And Bob Brookmeyer's Arrowhead from The Street Swingers (1957). Go here...
Give up? Bill Crow (photo at top of post) was the bassist. From the early 1950s on, Bill was one of the finest first-call bassists in New York, recording and touring with some of the best ensembles of the decade, including groups led by Getz, Mulligan and Brookmeyer. Of course, Bill was on so many more great recordings, including his own. Today, he's a denizen of Facebook, posting on jazz or chiming in on others' posts. He's a treasure.
Late last week, Carl Woideck alerted me to a fabulous new documentary by Neal Miner on Bill. Here it is...
To read Bill's colorful account of the 1962 Benny Goodman tour of the Soviet Union, To Russia Without Love, go here.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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