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Video: Woody Herman, 1964
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In July 1964, the Woody Herman Orchestra appeared on the BBC2's Jazz 625 TV show. The show's title referred to the number of lines it used on the UHF frequency. The band put on a sterling performance, showcasing punchy trumpets, swinging trombones and swaying reeds. There also was was plenty of solo heat. The band included Bill Chase and Billy Hunt (tp); Phil Wilson and Henry Southall (tb); Sal Nistico and Joe Romano (ts); Nat Pierce (p); Chuck Israels (b) ...
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Video: Bill Evans in Umbria
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On July 19, 1978, pianist Bill Evans was at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Terni, Italy. He was accompanied by bassist Mark Johnson and drummer Philly Joe Jones. A few weeks ago, 28 minutes of the trio playing that night was uploaded to YouTube. The songs are “The Peacocks," “Theme From M*A*S*H," “Midnight Mood," “Nardis" and an incomplete “Solar," featuring alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. Here's the Bill Evans Trio, with Evans's right hand in extraordinary form that night, though his ...
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Tubby Hayes: Back in Town
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
While performing in New York in June 1962, British tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes had an opportunity to record for Smash, Mercury's newly formed jazz subsidiary. Smash was run by Shelby Singleton, a Mercury executive with pop sensibilities. What was remarkable about the resulting album, Tubby's Back in Town, are the musicians selected for the recording session. The album features Tubby Hayes (ts and vib), James Moody (ts and fl), Rahsaan Roland Kirk (ts, nose-fl, cl, manzellon and stritch), Walter Bishop, ...
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Jones & Lewis In Concert
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
It occurred to me around mid-afternoon that it would have been a good idea to use the band’s music as a supplement to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis-Vanguard Orchestra Monday Recommendation. But, from the treasury of Thad & Mel performances on record and video, what to choose? The staff agreed unanimously; the band’s 1969 performance of Thad’s “Central Park North” at a 1969 concert in Denmark. As the featured soloists play, their names on the screen identify them. Everyone in the ...
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Chris Connor: Atlantic Singles
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Scrambling to avoid being caught short when the pop album format expanded in 1955 from 10 to 12 inches, Atlantic rapidly began adding singers to its artists rostet. In '56, the label signed Chris Connor after she left Bethlehem Records. She would go on to record 15 superb albums for Atlantic, including the remarkable Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song. When I interviewed Chris in 2008, she told me she had full control of the song selection at Atlantic, ...
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Bobby Darin: In a Broadway Bag
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
We tend to think of Bobby Darin as the last old-school pop singer before the American songbook was submerged by the rock-and-soul surge of the 1960s. And in many respects he was. But just as Darin was rising as the heir to Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett, he became meaningless almost overnight. One day he was a finger-snapping swinger and the next he was caught leaning in the wrong generation. But if you listen to Darin's many ...
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Sal Nistico at Carmelo's, 1981
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
For much of the latter part of the 19th century and into the post-war years, Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley was a center of Italian immigration. Prior to residential development in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Valley was a draw for those who arrived in the States from Italy to work as stone masons and farmers. Northern Italians arrived in L.A. first in the late 1800s, followed by Southern Italians in the early 20th century. In the 1940s, ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing Battle Trance
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Today, let's take a look at some videos featuring performances from Battle Trance, who will be coming to St. Louis to play a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 2 at The Luminary. One could think of them as a saxophone quartet, but with a twist, as all four members- founder and leader Travis Laplante, Patrick Breiner, Matt Nelson and Jeremy Viner- play tenor sax, with no doubles on any other instruments. This isn't entirely unprecedented- jazz ...
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