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Herbie Nichols: The Third World
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In a crowded 1950s jazz universe where every pianist had a distinct artistic footprint, Herbie Nichols was among the most singular. Often compared by critics to Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Nichols wasn't really much like either keyboard giant. If anything, Nichols' brooding style probably had more in common with Hungarian composer-pianist Béla Bartók and the dark Russian composers he admired as a child. Now, with perspective, he sounds like the father of the churning, modal approach pioneered by piano ...
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Gábor Szabó: Gypsy '66
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Mainstream jazz in the 1960s had a distinct sound. Artists such as Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Wayne Shorter, Gary Burton, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Horace Silver and others were influenced by the emerging young-adult scene that ran parallel to the teenage youthquake. Sixties jazz was eclectic and shaded by the revolution in pop music, in some cases stormy and pointed and in others gentle and mystical. One musician whose contribution in the '60s and '70s is overlooked is ...
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Chet Baker and Artt Frank
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Drummer Artt Frank first heard Chet Baker on Armed Forces Radio while aboard the U.S.S. Des Moines toward the end of the Korean War, in 1953. The following year he went to see the trumpeter at George Wein's Storyville in Boston and spoke to him afterward. Baker was kind to Artt, and Artt responded to the poetic depth of Baker's music and transparency of his personality. Fast forward to 1968. Artt was in Los Angeles driving to a gig playing ...
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Sean Connery's Lined Face
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The sad death of Sean Connery over the weekend took me back. Those of us who were around in the early 1960s remember the secret-agent craze that began with the wild popularity of his James Bond movies. At the start in '62, Bond predated the Beatles in America by two years and was responsible for launching our appetite for all things British. Initially, Bond was aimed at young adults whose lives had suddenly become dull with work, routines and responsibility. ...
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Groovy Bands Make the Scene
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The thrift-shop fashion statement of hippies photographed in San Francisco's during the Summer of Love in 1967 reached the country's youth culture nationwide a year later. Then came the colorful satin Nehru outfits of the Beatles in India in '68, which had a strange effect on adults in '69 and beyond. That year, many grownups decided it was time to make the scene. Why should kids have all the fun? White bell bottoms flew off store racks as did paisley ...
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Elmo Hope and Joe Morris
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bebop's fast tempo and complex rhythms were embraced by modern-jazz fans when the jazz style emerged in the mid-1940s. But bop also provided jump blues with an opening. Bebop was spectacular and electrifying, but it wasn't for dancing. It was mostly for sitting and listening. As a result, the big-beat, horn-driven dance music made major inroads in Black neighborhoods and in the record market. By 1949, R&B was so popular that Billboard started an official R&B chart. Hundreds of R&B ...
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Bobby Jaspar: Club St. Germain
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
\For me, the only tenor saxophonist who rivals Stan Getz in tone, improvisation and phrasing is Bobby Jaspar. The Belgian saxophonist and flutist had a singular cool approach and, like Getz, loved the high register of his instrument. In 1955, on December 27 and 29, Jaspar and his All Stars were recorded at Club St. Germain, a basement venue in Paris at 13 rue Saint-Benoît on the Left Bank. Jaspar (ts,fl) was backed by Rene Urtreger (p) Sacha Distel (g) ...
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YouTubers Dig Chet Baker
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Every so often, I come across talented kids on YouTube playing the music of favorite jazz artists on their instruments. Either they're playing transcriptions of artists' solos or they're playing along to their records. What unites them is a clear passion for the music's beauty. In the past, I've featured kids playing pianist Red Garland and guitarist Barry Galbraith. Today, Chet Baker fans worldwide dig in: Here's Adam Warnke playing There Will Never Be Another You... Here's Marina Glass playing ...
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