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Video: London's Complete Sound of 007
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
British vocalist and entertainer Dame Shirley Bassey is still going strong at 85. Last month, the singer—who recorded three James Bond film themes—performed two of them at the start of the spectacular Sound of 007 concert at London's Royal Albert Hall with conductor Michael Alexander. Last week, Mark Rabin sent along a link to the complete high-resolution concert video. Also taking the stage with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Dodd, were other leading singers and performers. Be ...
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Joe Harriott Quintet: At the BBC
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Given up for adoption in Kingston, Jamaica, soon after he was born in 1928, Joe Harriott learned to play the clarinet, starting at age 10, while attending the city's Alpha Boys School. In 1951, when Harriott turned 23, he toured in the U.K. as a member of Ossie DaCosta's band. After the tour, Harriott decided to remain in London, since British subjects didn't need work permits or immigration visas. His entry into the London jazz scene came while sitting in ...
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Doc: Art Pepper - Notes From a Jazz Survivor
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Loneliness on the road and the dread of performing live in the early 1950s drove Art Pepper to snort heroin. What followed was a lifelong addiction. As he said regarding his stage anxiety, “I'd get sick to my stomach, and the only way I could handle it was getting loaded." It's hard to believe when you listen to Pepper play that he could be hampered by nerves. Such anxiety was more common than not, not only among jazz musicians under ...
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One-Album Female Vocalists
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the mid-1950s and early 1960s, female vocalists were in high demand at America's record labels. Never before had so many new pop and jazz singers found their way into recording studios. The reason was the arrival of the 12-inch album. Sales of new phonograph consoles that could handle the 331/3 speed were surging as the suburbs and home ownership expanded throughout the country. Larger living rooms meant record buyers wanted the larger format so they didn't have to get ...
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Backgrounder: Buddy DeFranco & Tommy Gumina
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1960, clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and accordionist Tommy Gumina got together with bass and drums to record the first of five albums—Pacific Standard (Swingin') Time. It was on Decca. The next four were on Mercury, including their first for the label—Presenting the Buddy DeFranco/Tommy Gumina Quartet, recorded in 1961. The tracks on Presenting were When Lights Are Low, Street of Dreams, Runaway, Never On Friday, Gone With the Wind, ´S Wonderful, On Green Dolphin Street, Scrapple From the Apple, Playin´ ...
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Eliane Elias & Marc Johnson: Lost Bill Evans Song
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Days before Bill Evans's death on September 15, 1980, the pianist handed his bassist, Marc Johnson, a cassette tape. On the tape was a previously unperformed original by Evans called Here Is Something for You. In 2007, Eliane Elias and her partner, Marc Johnson, performed the song on video, which is up at YouTube. As you'll see, they clearly share a deep love for Evans. Marc, of course, was the last Bill Evans Trio bassist. Eliane has always had a ...
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Sonny Stitt: 10 Great Organ Intros
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sonny Stitt loved organ intros. The bigger and more dramatic the better, with plenty of keyboard articulation and suspense. When the organ opener was played just right, it came off like a groovy fanfare that set up his entry on tenor or alto saxophone. To celebrate this sound, I pulled 10 of my favorite organ openers from Stitt's many albums: Here's Don Patterson opening Long Ago and Far Away on Boss Tenors in Orbit in 1962, with Stitt playing first ...
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Backgrounder: Frank Wess's 'Trombones & Flute'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Frank Wess was a powerhouse big-band tenor saxophonist and flutist and a lyrical player in small groups, especially those he led. One of my favorite ensemble albums by Wess is Trombones & Flute, which he recorded for Savoy in July 1956. The personnel featured a chunk of Count Basie's band, for which Wess played at the time. The lineup included Jimmy Cleveland, Henry Coker, Benny Powell and Bill Hughes (tb), Frank Wess (fl), Ronnell Bright (p), Freddie Green (g), Eddie ...
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