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Backgrounder: Johnny Alf: Rapaz de Bem, 1961
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
For those in the know, Johnny Alf has long been thought of as the father of the bossa nova. Whether that statement is completely accurate or whether he was merely a significant influence has been hotly debated over the years. Even if the Brazilian singer-songwriter wasn't the bossa's earliest pure exponent, his softly romantic, Johnny Mathis-like vocal style, his jazzy sense of swing and his rich melodies certainly held sway over many of the artists who would become identified with ...
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Shorty Rogers: Centennial
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sunday, April 14, will mark the 100th anniversary of Shorty Rogers' birth. The trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and arranger who was a founding father of West Coast jazz died in 1994 from melanoma at age 70. Today, in celebration of Rogers' contribution to jazz, I've assembled 10 of my favorite clips plus three bonus clips: Here's one of Rogers' first recorded arrangements, on Heads Up for Woody Herman's Woodchoppers combo performed in March 1946 at Carnegie Hall, featuring Sonny Berman (tp), ...
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Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Twilight Time
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Early in March, I posted a Backgrounder on a 1957 album arranged by Quincy Jones in Paris. In the U.S., the LP was released by United Artists and was called Americans in Paris. In France, it came out on Barclay and was known as Et Voila! The album was recorded with Eddie Barclay, the owner of the Barclay label and its music director at the time who hired most of the French musicians in the band. He soon would offer ...
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12 YouTube Clips of Anita O'Day
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Anita O'Day was one of jazz's first “slick chicks." Born Anita Colton in 1919, O'Day was raised in Chicago. She left home during the Depression at age 14 to become a walk-a-thon contestant—the last person standing after sleepless hours won a cash prize. Dance-a-thons would soon follow. In 1936, O'Day began singing professionally and fronted her fist big band two years later. In 1941, she joined Gene Krupa's band and revolutionized the term girl singer, opening the door to attitude. ...
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Backgrounder: Quincy Jones - Americans in Paris
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1957, Quincy Jones moved to Paris to study composition and theory with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen. In his spare time, the producer, composer, arranger, bandleader and conductor became music director at Barclay, a French record company owned by Eddie Barclay, a composer-arranger and contractor. Barclay also was the licensee for Mercury in France. Jones's first album for the label was Et Voila!, which was released on United Artists in the U.S. as Americans in Paris. In addition to ...
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Bill Evans: Here's That Rainy Day
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I've always loved Bill Evans's solo interpretation of Here's That Rainy Day from Alone in 1968. He opens with enormous sensitivity and delivers a measured ballad reading, followed by rising intensity and swing as the tempo quickens. The master take that appears on the album never fails to thrill me. Yet despite his beauty, Evans didn't bother to hold onto it like some other songs. Perhaps he felt that the Alone version was as good as he was ever going ...
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Bill Evans: On Green Dolphin Street
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
To the best of my knowledge, there are only 10 known recordings of Bill Evans playing On Green Dolphin Street. Composed in 1947 by Bronisław Kaper (with lyrics by Ned Washington), the song was written for the film Green Dolphin Street, which was based on the 1944 novel of the same name by Elizabeth Goudge. The song suited Evans perfectly. Here are all 10 renditions: Evans first recorded the jazz standard in 1958 with the Miles Davis Sextet, a spectacular ...
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Documentary: Jimmy Wormworth, 2015
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jimmy Wormworth was determined to play drums from an early age. Born in Utica, N.Y., he quickly became part of the “Upstate Guys"—a local nickname that referred to the sizable number of jazz musicians who grew up and gigged in the center of New York state. In the 1950s, Jimmy toured in Europe, and in the U.S. with Nellie Lutcher. Starting in 1960, Jimmy gigged with Charles Mingus, Horace Parlan, Charlie Rouse and played and recorded with Lou Donaldson, Lambert, ...
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