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Backgrounder: Sam Lazar - 'Playback' (1962)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Odds are you have no idea who Sam Lazar is and that you're hearing about him now for the first time. Don't feel bad. The organist is one of jazz's most puzzling figures. Born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1933, he played piano and was in a St. Louis group led by Ernie Wilkins. When Wilkins left to join Count Basie, Lazar played in several groups in the St. Louis area. After serving in the Army from 1951 to 1953, ...
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Bill Evans: 'Moon Beams' and 'Interplay' (1962)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In April, May, June and July of 1962, pianist Bill Evans was ferociously busy in recording studios. Ten months earlier, his first working trio was at its peak, recording in exquisite form at New York's Village Vanguard. The three musicians had realized Evans's dream of playing conversationally—each member playing off the other two as equals rather than the piano taking the lead with the bass and drums merely playing supportive roles. At the Vanguard, the bassist was Scott LaFaro and ...
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Backgrounder: Sal Salvador - Colors in Sound ('58)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The stereo revolution began in late 1957, when Sidney Frey of Audio Fidelity Records cut the first LP with the new sonic format and played it on December 13 for an audience in the auditorium at The New York Times on West 43d St. Within months, every major label was recording orchestral jazz to show off stereo's new dynamic fidelity. Sal Salvador was among those in the stereo vanguard. Salvador is probably best known as the Stan Kenton Orchestra's guitarist ...
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Perfection: Phil Urso - P.U. Stomp (1952)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Man, tenor saxophonist and arranger Phil Urso could swing! And he pops up all over the place in the tastiest places. He was paired with Art Pepper on Picture of Heath (formerly known as Playboys); with Allen Eager at Birdland with Terry Gibbs in 1952; with Brew Moore in Kai Winding's Septet of 1953; with Zoot Sims in Neal Hefti's orchestra that same year; with Bob Brookmeyer in 1954; with Chet Baker in 1956 and with trumpeter Carl Saunders in ...
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Vince Guaraldi: Two Albums With a Latin Feel
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Best known for his success composing and playing music for the Charlie Brown and Peanuts TV specials of the 1960s, Vince Guaraldi actually had a struggling jazz career through much of the 1950s. Born in the North Beach section of San Francisco, he started out playing with local vibraphonist Cal Tjader in 1951. His first leadership recording session for Fantasy took place in 1955, when he regularly performed at the Hungry I nightclub in North Beach. He recorded his first ...
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Joe Diorio: A Guitarist's Guitarist
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I first became aware of guitarist Joe Diorio in the1970s, when I bought a pair of Sonny Stitt albums on the Argo label—Move on Over (1963) and My Main Man (1964). I was instantly struck by how tasty Diorio played behind Stitt, especially his driving rhythm figures and fills. Born in Waterbury, Ct., in 1936, Diorio was inspired to take up the guitar by his uncle and studied in the early 1950s. Arriving on the jazz scene late, just as ...
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The Airmen of Note Meets Stan Kenton
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Today in the U.S., it's Memorial Day, a national holiday. To honor the men and women of the military who sacrificed their lives in service of our country and those we were defending, today we're listening to the Airmen of Note playing a set of Stan Kenton's music. Created in 1950 to continue the tradition of Major Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces dance band, the Airmen of Note consists of 17 active-duty musicians and one vocalist. Stationed at Joint Base ...
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Perfection: Harry James in the Late '50s/Early '60s
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Two big bands that knock me out from the late 1950s and early 1960s are the ones led by Count Basie and Harry James. Both could swing the house sideways, but both knew when enough was enough. Basie, of course, invented the concept of just enough, but James's decade-straddling band is often overlooked for the same quality. James's near-stalker passion for Basie is well known ("Two O'Clock Jump) but less known is that during this period, they shared the same ...
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