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Herbie Mann with Oliver Nelson
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Herbie Mann was a fascinating jazz figure. The flutist and saxophonist was a dominant player in the 1950s, recording prolifically as a leader and sideman, and always bringing tremendous swing and lyricism to his work. Both of Mann's parents were dancers, so his keen sense of time makes perfect sense. Tall and lean, he became the prototype for beat-generation beboppers, coffee-house bongo players, the folk-jazz hipsters and Greenwich Village VW-driving daddy-o's. Mann also had a eye and ear for the ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Grant Green Story
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, we take a brief respite from previewing upcoming performances for a look at the recent documentary film The Grant Green Story. Born in St. Louis in 1931, Green was a popular jazz guitarist in the 1960s and '70s, recording for Blue Note and other labels and playing most of the major venues of the era. He was just 43 years old when he died of a heart attack in 1979, leaving behind six children and a discography that ...
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Electrifying Track: The Eely One
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In January 1959, tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb was teamed with fellow tenor player Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis, organist Wild Bill Davis, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Arthur Edgehill on a Prestige album called Blow, Arnett, Blow. On The Eely One, a walking blues by Cobb, the tough tenors open the clutch all the way and snake through their solos. Cobb takes the first, with smokey, slippery lines. Jaws takes the second with a brash slinky delivery. Both blues masters were backed ...
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Tito Puente's Cha-Cha-Cha
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, the temperature hit the mid-90s in New York. As the mercury climbed, thoughts turned to Tito Puente, the Les Brown of Latin dance music. In the 1950s, Puente was one of the so called “Big Three" mambo dance kings—Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez. While Machito veered toward Latin jazz and Rodriguez, a vocalist, was a bit more commercial, Puente's orchestra was primarily a dance band. But oh, what a dance band. The musicianship was extraordinary, as were the arrangements. ...
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Monday Surprise: Seeing Bix
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
For many aficionados of Bix Beiderbecke the surprise is not that there is so little film of the great cornetist, but that there is any. To the left, we see a frame of film shot in 1928 for Fox Movietone News of the Whiteman orchestra recording or rehearsing a piece called “My Ohio Home.” When Beiderbecke died in 1931 at the age of 28, he had earned the admiration of his contemporary and friend Louis Armstrong and become an inspiration ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on the L.A. Swing Barons
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring the L.A. Swing Barons, who are coming to St. Louis for a performance presented by the St. Louis Jitterbugs this coming Thursday, June 21 at the Intersect Arts Center. The event is part of an ongoing Thursday night swing dance series sponsored by the Jitterbugs. So far the series has featured mostly recorded music spun by DJs, said co-owner Christian Frommelt, but plans are to present a live band at ...
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Eight Clips: The Blues Guitar
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
By the early 1970s, the electric blues guitar reached its peak in mass popularity. With roots in the post-World War II Chicago style marked by amplification and picking solos, the electric blues was pioneered by African-American guitarists including T. Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddy King, Albert King, Chuck Berry, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy and many others. White American and British guitarists also introduced many young listeners to the electric blues in the late '60s and ...
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Five Solos by Hal McKusick
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, I was thinking about the late Hal McKusick. So I thought I'd share five clips with you of Hal playing solos: Here's Hal on also saxophone playing Don't Worry About Me... Here's Hal on You're Everywhere... Here's Hal playing I'm Glad There Is You on clarinet... Here's Hal on alto saxophone playing Irresistible You... Here's Hal playing alto saxophone on Give 'Em Hal... Bonus: Here's Hal in the early 1960s on TV's I've Got a Secret. He's on our ...
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