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New Video: Sonny Rollins at Ronnie Scott's, 1974
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On July 17, 1974, Sonny Rollins appeared at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, two years after his 1972 comeback after a lengthy sabbatical. At the time, a film was shot, then shelved and now, for the first time, it's up online. Sonny's band at Ronnie Scott's featured Sonny Rollins (ts), Rufus Harley (ss,bagpies), Yoshiaki Masuo (el-g), Bob Cranshaw (el-b) and David Lee (d). Songs featured were The Cutting Edge, Don't Stop the Carnival, A House Is Not a Home, ...
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Backgrounder: Brown & Roach - At Basin Street
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded several live club albums with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, but only two were done in the studio—At Basin Street and Sonny Rollins Plus Four. Though the former LP's title (for EmArcy) infers they recorded live at New York's Basin Street (not Basin Street East, which wouldn't open until 1959), they actually were at New York's Capitol Studios. Sonny joined the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet in late 1955. In January and February 1956, ...
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The Mellow Scene of Early Autumn
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Though the calendar says summer, our souls tell us it's early autumn. So in the spirit of the shifting sunlight, darker mornings and cooler air, here's the story behind the jazz standard Early Autumn followed by 10 sterling instrumental versions. The story... In 1946, the classically inclined arranger Ralph Burns brought a three-part neo-Impressionist suite to bandleader Woody Herman called Summer Sequence. As Gary Giddins notes in his superb book, Visions of Jazz (Oxford), Herman recorded the three parts in ...
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Dinah Washington Centenary: 'Evil Gal Blues'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The women's movement began with Dinah Washington's voice. If Billie Holiday sang about mistreatment and the blues, Ella Fitzgerald sang youthful swing and Sarah Vaughan elegantly covered jazz-pop, Washington captured the sound of women demanding to be heard and treated well—or else. Her voice in the 1950s was sharp and powerful, like a trumpet or a sudden smack in the face. While Washington sang blues, pop and just about everything else, it was her articulation and phrasing that reverberated with ...
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Kenny Dorham's Centenary
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30 will mark the 100th anniversary of Kenny Dorham's birth. The trumpeter and singer was born in Texas in 1924 and always seemed to be at the right place at the right time. Early on, he played in the bop bands of Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie and jump blues band of Lionel Hampton. From 1948 to '50, Dorham was a member of the Charlie Parker Quintet that was often recorded live. In 1951 he recorded with Thelonious Monk, ...
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Russell Malone (1963-2024)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Russell Malone, a jazz guitarist and composer who could play with a brash attack and lightening-fast fingers as a soloist and with a powdery, gentle feel and sturdy rhythm as a sideman, died of a heart attack on August 23 while on tour in Tokyo with bassist Ron Carter and pianist Donald Vega. He was 60. What made Russell exceptional was his sensitivity. He had enormous respect for a song, whether it was one made famous by Benny Golson or ...
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Backgrounder: The Strolling Mr. Eldridge, 1953
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In December 1953, trumpeter Roy “Little Jazz" Eldridge recorded The Strolling Mr. Eldridge for Norman Granz's Clef label. Eldridge was a member of Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tour and recording group of all stars. The album was released during the “speed wars," when Columbia's 33 1/3 and RCA's 45 rpm formats were in fierce competition. Many labels issued albums on both speeds to cover their bases. Both formats would survive the battle—the 33 1/3 for LPs and 45s for ...
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Gene Ammons: The All-Star Sessions
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Like many musicians who performed in Billy Eckstine's big band between 1944 and '46, tenor saxophonist Gene “Jug" Ammons went on to jazz fame in the independent record label era of the late 1940s. He also did well in the blues 78 market (he was the first artist to record for Chess in Chicago) and the LP era as well. Others veterans of the Eckstine band who would become jazz giants included Dexter Gordon, Leo Parker, John Malachi, Art Blakey, ...
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