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Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Pepper Adams Quintet,' 1957

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 30, 2023

Stu Williamson was a gorgeous trumpeter and valve trombonist. His smooth tone and ease with which he played and soloed landed him in the Hollywood studios in the 1950s. Born in Brattleboro, Vt., Williamson moved to Los Angeles in 1949. Sadly, he struggled with drug addiction for much of his career. The younger brother of West Coast pianist Claude Williamson, Stu Williamson died in 1991 at age 58. Williamson played on just one album with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. Recorded ...

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Video / DVD

Sara Cassey: Phantom Songwriter

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 25, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Two Bill Evans Videos Recently Uploaded

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 19, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Sol Schlinger, Baritone Sax Extraordinaire

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 7, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Hal Schaefer: Marilyn Monroe and Two Albums

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 4, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Johnny Richards' Walk Softly

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 1, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Sy Oliver's Arrangements in 10 Clips

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 31, 2023

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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Video / DVD

Sy Oliver: Easy Walker and Sentimental Sy

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30, 2023

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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