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Backgrounder: Os Tatuis, 1965
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jose Roberto Bertrami played keyboards for Azymuth, a much heralded Brazilian trio that formed in 1972. The band mixed samba, bossa nova, jazz, folk and rock. He also composed and arranged for Elis Regina, Mark Murphy, Joe Pass, Sarah Vaughan, Milton Nascimento, Airto, Flora Purim among others. In 1965, Bertrami led a group on his first recording at age 19. The album was Os Tatuis, and the sextet featured Bertrami (piano), Vasconcelos (tenor saxophone), Ivo Mendes (trumpet), Aresky Aratto (organ), ...
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Count, Duke, Stan, Harry, Gerald and Tubby in '65
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Thought to be over and done in 1965, big bands staged a comeback. Most of their acclaim came on tours in Europe and and on TV, but the truth is that bands led by top names were undergoing a renaissance. With their kids in college or out of the house and rock starting to dominate, many older listeners in the U.S. began paying attention again to artists who had shaped their youth. Abroad, a generation of young adults marveled at ...
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Frans Elsen Septet: 'Norway,' 1972 and '73
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of the earliest jazz uses of the Fender Rhodes electric piano was in 1968, when Herbie Hancock played it on Miles Davis's Miles in the Sky. He may have come to the instrument through the Columbia record label. CBS bought the Fender Rhodes company in 1965. By the early 1970s, the keyboard was ubiquitous, especially among emerging fusion players, including Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, George Duke, Joe Sample and others. Even acoustic players like Bill Evans, Bob James, Harold ...
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Who Was Art Hodes?
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Born in 1904 in what today is Ukraine, Art Hodes and his family left the country a few months after he arrived, likely following a violent wave of attacks against Jewish families. After docking in New York, they settled in Chicago, where a young Hodes began playing blues piano in the city's clubs. When Hodes was 24, in 1938, he moved to New York, where his reputation took off. Here are a series of Chicago TV shows in 1969 that ...
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Color Video: Bill Evans Trio, Helsinki, 1970
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1970, the Bill Evans Trio visited the home of Finnish composer Ilkka Kussisto for a private performance and conversation. The event was taped for Finnish TV. Kuusisto is a classical composer who was the conductor at the Helsinki City Theater and later general manager of the Finnish National Opera. His house was on Lauttasaari island in Helsinki, about five minutes west of the city center. For years, tape of the visit by the trio—Evans on piano, Eddie Gomez on ...
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Backgrounder: Ray Brown Trio - 'Don't Get Sassy'
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
On April 21 and 22, 1994, the Ray Brown Trio went in to studio A at Signet Sound in West Hollywood to record an album called Don't Get Sassy for Robert Woods and Jack Renner's Telarc label. The trio was comprised of Benny Green on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums, and there appears to have been an audience on hand in the studio. This trio had been playing and recording together since 1991, when they ...
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Eddie Bert: Musician Of The Year
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Today is Eddie Bert's centenary. The trombonist was born May 16, 1922 and died in 2012. Eddie was an extraordinary musician, a solid swinger and a great guy. And if we're looking at East Coast and West Coast doppelgängers, then Eddie can be compared with Frank Rosolino in Los Angeles for powerful and hungry improvisational lines, a seasoned approach and wit. One of Eddie's most remarkable leadership albums was Eddie Bert: Musicians of the Year, recorded for Savoy in 1955. ...
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Stan Kenton: The Opus Story
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
After Stan Kenton wrote and arranged Opus in Pastels in 1940, the song was regularly performed by his band and became a hit in 1946 after it was recorded at Capitol. With the arrival of the 12-inch album format in 1955, the song was so pouplar that Kenton commissioned arranger Gene Roland to write a series of “opus" pieces with catchy melody lines to showcase the saxophones. Even arrangers Pete Rugolo and Bob Graettinger got into the opus act. Interestingly, ...
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