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Video / DVD

Videos: Three Guitar Masters

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 2, 2018

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd end the week by sharing with you three separate videos of true jazz guitar masters—Louis Stewart, Joe Pass and Lenny Breau. I think you'll agree that all three are at their finest here. In each case, I found videos you wouldn't be able to stop watching even if you had to go: Here's Irish guitarist Louis Stewart and British bassist Peter Ind playing Baubles, Bangles and Beads... Here's nearly 45 minutes of Joe Pass... ...

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Video / DVD

Bobby Hackett Plays Tony

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 1, 2018

To the best of my knowledge, cornetist Bobby Hackett played on just two Tony Bennett albums in the 1960s. He can be heard blowing mellow obbligatos around Tony's vocal on two tracks on A Time for Love, a compilation of unreleased material between 1960 and '66. Hackett also plays ukulele on Sweet Lorraine on Tony's If I Ruled The World : Songs For The Jet Set. All you have to do is hear Hackett's horn on The Shining Sea and ...

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Video / DVD

The Basie-ites: 1956 and '59

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 30, 2018

Count Basie held onto his band through the 1950s because he didn't hold on tight. Rather than insist that musicians play only with him, Basie let them record as leaders or behind other artists whenever the band had extended time off. As a result, virtually all of his bandmembers recorded alone and together during the '50s and early '60s. One of the groups that splintered off from the band to record was known commercially as The Basie-ites. This ad-hoc ensemble ...

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Video / DVD

Videos: Nancy Wilson in '66

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 26, 2018

At her vocal peak in 1966, Nancy Wilson was the very picture of grace and artistic command. Her jazzy vocal style added a soulful flavor to pop songs of the day and her range and phrasing were masterful. Today, as great as her albums are, they don't give you the full scope of what makes Nancy special. To fully appreciate her gifts, you have to see Nancy in action. One can only imagine what she was like in '66 at ...

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Video / DVD

10 Videos: Johnny Alf

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 25, 2018

Most fans of the bossa nova are familiar with Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto. They also may be hip to Marcos Valle, Joao Donato, Carlos Lyra, Vinicius de Moraes, Walter Wanderley, Luiz Bonfa and Sylvia Telles. New to you, however, may be Johnny Alf, who's often referred to as “the father of the bossa nova." Whether or not the title is completely accurate, Alf in the early '50s brought a cool jazz sensibility to his ...

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Video / DVD

Big John Patton: Certain Feeling

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 24, 2018

Big John Patton wasn't big. Playing the organ-combo circuit in late 1961 and early '62, a club owner began calling him “Big Bad John." The name was inspired by Jimmy Dean's record, Big Bad John, which was released in September of that year and went to #1 on Billboard's pop chart in early November. Patton told an interviewer he resisted the name at first but soon came to like it. It's unclear whether he deleted the word “bad" or Blue ...

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Video / DVD

Eric Kloss: A Soulful Start

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 23, 2018

When Eric Kloss recorded Introducing Eric Kloss at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., in September 1965 he couldn't drive. For one, he was blind since birth. For another, he was just 16. But Kloss could blow, as evidenced by his sidemen: Don Patterson (org), Pat Martino (g) and Billy James (d), Born in Greenville, Pa., Kloss attended the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind, which was run by his father. Like Ray Charles, George Sharing, Al Hibbler, ...

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Video / DVD

Monday Recommendation: Django, A Motion Picture

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 23, 2018

Director Étienne Comar’s Django portrays guitarist Django Reinhardt’s life during two years when it seemed that Europe might fall to Germany. His account emphasizes the greatness of Reinhardt’s music and the Nazis’ recognition of his extensive popularity. They coerce his collaborationist lover to persuade him to play in Berlin. Reinhardt chooses instead to escape to neutral Switzerland. In real life, his escape effort failed and he was returned to Paris. Reda Kater is credible, if sometimes phlegmatic, in the title ...

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