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Five Videos: Gerry Mulligan
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan was a potent artist whose reach extended into many different areas of jazz across six decades. As a dominant arranger and player in the 1940s, he influenced big bands led by Gene Krupa, Elliot Lawrence and Claude Thornhill, fusing bop and swing. In 1949 and '50, he was a member of Miles Davis's so-called Birth of the Cool band as a player, arranger and composer. In the early 1950s, he formed a contrapuntal pianoless quartet on ...
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Cal Tjader Quartet: Vibist
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Over the years, many jazz fans have assumed Cal Tjader was of Hispanic heritage, given his many Latin albums from the early 1950s onward. Actually, he was the child of Swedish-American vaudeville performers. His parents were a husband-and-wife team—his father tap danced while his mother played piano. They appeared at theaters in the region around their home in St. Louis before resettling in San Mateo, Calif., to open a dance studio. As a young boy, Tjader developed into an exceptional ...
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Video: Bill Evans at Montreux '78
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
On the evening of Wednesday, July 12, 1978, the Bill Evans Trio took the stage and performed an 11-song set in the Casino de Montreux at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. Evans's face was just starting to show the haggard strains of his regular drug use and tireless touring. His hands weren't puffy yet, a condition that develops after long-term intravenous drug addiction. As a result, his playing at Montreux was still tender and measured, not agitated and ...
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Shirley Scott in 8 Albums and 2 Videos
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Naturally, my afternoon with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine on Tuesday led to an afternoon with organist Shirley Scott yesterday. It was inevitable. Once you get Scottie in your ear, you want her to go on and on. I have virtually all of her albums, so I focused on her 1960s releases, which are loaded with powerful original blues and juicy takes on old and new standards. Scott loved to set the keyboards so the bottom sounded thick as she coordinated ...
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Stanley Turrentine: Let It Go
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, around 3 p.m., I felt like listening to Stanley Turrentine. I wanted something upbeat and sassy by the tenor saxophonist framed by Shirley Scott's finger-popping organ. I also wanted the groove to be mid-'60s swinging—churchy and soulful, not riffy or electric. A few great standards and a bunch of blues. Most of all, I wanted Turrentine and Scott to square off on solos, showing each other what they got. So I put on Turrentine's Let It Go, one of ...
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Don Cherry in Copenhagen, 1965
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Throughout his career, Don Cherry favored the stubby but warm pocket cornet and was most closely identified with the free jazz and avant-garde jazz movements. In the late 1950s, he recorded with Ornette Coleman (Something Else!!!, Tomorrow Is the Question!, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Change of the Century, This Is Our Music), Paul Bley (The Fabulous Paul Bley Quintet) and John Coltrane (The Avant-Garde). In the '60s, he recorded additional albums with Coleman as well as with Steve ...
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Leonid & Friends: Chicago
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The first time I heard Leonid & Friends, I thought for a second they were syncing to Chicago's recordings from the early 1970s. Turns out Leonid & Friends is a Russian-Ukrainian cover band with impeccable ears and talent. Leonid is Leonid Vorobyev (third from left), a Moscow producer, bassist, transcriber and arranger. In concert, the tentet recreates American hits perfectly, but they're probably best known for their precise Chicago covers. What sets them apart is that they work hard to ...
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Buddy Rich on the Road, 1978
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The Buddy Rich Big Band was the last great swing orchestra. The band toured relentlessly in the late 1960s, '70s and '80s, up until Rich's death in 1987. The band's ballads and barn-burners were compelling. What's more, the band had its own sound and featured sterling arrangements and captivating soloists. Rich's '78 band was particularly exceptional, especially on the road. Here's the Buddy Rich Big Band in Sweden in '78, with special guest soloists Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Harry “Sweets" ...
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