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Joe Farrell Plays the Flute
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Recently, I was e-chatting with saxophonist Bill Kirchner about jazz flutists. I think it was just after my post on Harold McNair. At any rate, Bill noted that Joe Farrell (1937-1986) was one of the finest jazz flutists. Said Bill, “If there's a better sounding alto flute on a jazz record, I haven't heard it." [Photo above of Joe Farrell from the album Benson & Farrell.] To make his point, Bill sent along the following clips: Here's Farrell with the ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Grégoire Maret's harmonica jazz
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Harmonica players are rare in jazz. Many fans could recognize and name the late Jean “Toots" Thielemans (who also played guitar) and Howard Levy, who first earned fame playing harmonica and keyboards with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (and St. Louis music fans in the know might tout our town's Sandy Weltman as deserving of being mentioned in the same company), but beyond that, not many harp players have been able to make a living over the years exclusively playing ...
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Freddie Hubbard: Three Videos
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard came up at the height of the hard bop movement in the late 1950s and became instrumental in free jazz movement in the 1960s and fusion in the '70s. His second recording was on John Coltrane's The Believer in late 1958, and from then on Hubbard was in strong demand. His critical recordings in the 1960s include Ornette Coleman's Double Quartet, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Dexter Gordon's Doin' Allright, Coltrane's Africa Brass, Herbie ...
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Henry Mancini: Dreamsville
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of the most sensual mid-tempo ballads ever written is Henry Mancini's Dreamsville. It was written by Mancini for the TV-detective series Peter Gunn, which aired from 1958 to 1961. The song's melody first appeared in the “Kidnap" episode, during season 2, as well as on several other episodes. I found it here, at 27:14... The words were written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston. During a 1994 70th birthday concert honoring Henry Mancini, Mancini himself conducted as Sue Raney ...
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Warne Marsh: Oct. 1987
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On Sunday, October 18, 1987, Warne Marsh was leading a quartet at a San Francisco concert. The performance was held just two months before the cool-jazz tenor saxophonist would collapse and die of a heart attack on stage at Donte's in North Hollywood at age 60. Backing Marsh in San Francisco was Larry Koonse (g), Seward McCain (b) and Jim Zimmerman (d). They were performing a “Jazz In Flight" concert on the stage of the Children's Day School (above), which ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Keyon Harrold sampler
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's peruse some videos featuring trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold, who now lives in NYC but is coming home to perform on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. Harrold will be part of an ensemble including pianist Lawrence Fields and drummer Kimberly Thompson, two more former St. Louisans with burgeoning careers playing jazz, plus saxophonist Adam Larson, who grew up not far from here, just up I-55 in Normal, Illinois. ...
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Video: Bobby Jaspar, 1958
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Since we're on a bit of a flute kick, let's end the week with Belgian flutist (and saxophonist) Bobby Jaspar. In the following video clip, he's performing in Cannes, France, in July 1958 with Donald Byrd (tr), Walter Davis Jr. (p), Doug Watkins (b) and Art Taylor (d). They're playing a contrafact on I'll Remember April—a contrafact being a newly invented melody on top of the chord changes of an existing established song. Dig Jaspar's swinging flute and the impeccable ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Laurence Hobgood
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring pianist Laurence Hobgood, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio on Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro. Known widely for his more than 20 years as musical director for singer Kurt Elling, Hobgood split from Elling at the end of 2013 to concentrate on his own music. Since then, he's been involved in a variety of projects, playing solo, with his ...
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