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Sara Cassey: Phantom Songwriter
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Composer and lyricist Sara Cassey (1929-1966) is virtually unknown today. She played piano but wasn't a performing jazz pianist or a singer. In fact, she never recorded an album, despite having worked for Riverside Records. Born in Detroit, she moved to New York in the mid-1950s. Her songs or, more aptly, tunes, were recorded by Hank Jones, Billy Taylor, Junior Mance, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Persip, Elvin Jones, Stan Kenton, Harry James and many others. As Bill Kirchner noted in an ...
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Two Bill Evans Videos Recently Uploaded
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, the autumn sky in New York was bumper-to-bumper with billowy clouds in all shades of white and slate grey. No rain, just a sea of moody cumulus formations muscling their way east across Manhattan. A perfect day to write with Bill Evans playing. Which led me to three videos of Evans—two that went up at YouTube recently and another from Facebook that Dave Thompson found and sent along: Here's the Bill Evans Trio in 1964, with Evans on piano, ...
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Sol Schlinger, Baritone Sax Extraordinaire
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the 1950s, when the 12-inch album became dominant, many studios recording jazz LPs needed musicians who could record perfectly in the fewest number of takes. Such skills included top-notch sight reading, the ability to play multiple instruments flawlessly and artists who could blow beautiful solos. To streamline their operations, producers began forming groups of musicians who could come in and make magic together. In Los Angeles in the 1960s, one such team specializing in pop rock was known as ...
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Hal Schaefer: Marilyn Monroe and Two Albums
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Like Erroll Garner, Hal Schaefer had his own distinctive jazz piano style and transformd every song he played into pure magic. He could turn standards inside out with a swinging fury and, with his right hand, whip up improvised lines that left listeners dazzled. Born in 1925 in Queens, N.Y., Schaefer began playing professionally at resorts in the Catskill Mountains a few hours north of New York. By the mid-1940s, he was playing and recording with Tommy Dorsey and Boyd ...
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Backgrounder: Johnny Richards' Walk Softly
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
As West Coast arrangers go, Johnny Richards was spectacular. Like Bill Holman and Shorty Rogers, he had an authentic feel for the Hollywood scene and how to blend glamor with art. To stir this mood, Richards made wonderful use of French horns and piccolos, and he always threw in a touch of Latin flavor. His arrangements for Stan Kenton stand out, but his leadership albums are truly special. Born Juan Manuel Cascales in Mexico in 1911, Richards came to the ...
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Sy Oliver's Arrangements in 10 Clips
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday's post on arranger, trumpeter and vocalist Sy Oliver generated many emails from readers who have long loved his work and those who weren't familiar with him. In yesterday's post, I shared some of Oliver's classic arrangements for Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra. To drive home Oliver's importance and influence, here are 10 of my favorite arrangements over the decades: Here's Oliver's arrangement of Now or Never by Billie Holiday in 1949... Here's Oliver's arrangement of That Old Feeling by ...
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Sy Oliver: Easy Walker and Sentimental Sy
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sy Oliver was one of the most important arrangers of the swing era. A trumpeter, singer and arranger in Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in the 1930s, Oliver was hired by Tommy Dorsey in 1939 to give the band a more authentic Savoy Ballroom sound. Oliver's good fortune came the following January when Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey and Oliver was tasked with orchestrating the singer's up-tempo numbers. Axel Stordahl handled the ballads. Some of Sinatra's most memorable songs with Dorsey were arranged ...
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Backgrounders: Basie With Quincy and Hefti
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1958, the French Vogue label put out a double LP in Europe entitled Count Basie Plays Quincy Jones & Neal Hefti. Essentially, it was a re-issue of two previous Roulette releases—Basie One More Time: Music From the Pen of Quincy Jones (1960) and Basie Plays Hefti (1958). Both are classics in the Basie canon and remain masterpieces today. Quincy Jones and Neal Hefti, alone with Ernie Wilkins and Frank Foster were among the leading composer-arrangers for Basie's New Testament ...
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