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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: We Insist! - Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
June 28, 2020

This week, let's take a look back at an extended jazz composition of historical importance that, unfortunately, remains topical 60 years after its premiere. We Insist: Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite is the title of a 1960 album by drummer Max Roach, featuring a five-part work composed by Roach with singer and lyricist Oscar Brown Jr. Considered a significant work of protest during the Civil Rights era, the “Freedom Now Suite" reflects two important trends of its time: the continuing ...

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Video / DVD

YouTubers Dig Wes Montgomery

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 25, 2020

In 2019, I posted on YouTube clips of students working out on transcriptions by guitarist Barry Galbraith. In 2018, I did the same with piano students playing Red Garland. Yesterday, I stumbled onto videos of guitar students playing Wes Montgomery. Here are eight videos plus a cover by a professional trio: Here's Audrey playing Four on Six... Here's Dearly Beloved... Here's Mr. Walker... Here's Alex Baird signing a vocalese on Montgomery's recording of The Days of Wine and Roses... Here's ...

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Video / DVD

Bill Evans: Stuttgart, 1979

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 24, 2020

The last two months of 1979 were murder on pianist Bill Evans. He was on tour in Europe with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, booked into a different city each night. He also had a cold and looked haggard. Nevertheless, on November 26, he performed a spectacular concert at Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris. The results would appear on the two Paris Concert albums. Four days later, the trio was at Casale Monferratoin in Piedmont, Italy. Some nights ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Seven more views of "St. Louis Blues"

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
June 21, 2020

This week, it's part two of our look at “St. Louis Blues," featuring some contemporary versions of W.C. Handy's most famous composition. The first video actually combines aspects of both vintage and contemporary, since it features New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band performing a traditional arrangement of “St. Louis Blues," but was recorded in July 1996 at a festival gig in Mountain View, CA. Veteran pianist Eddie Higgins, who was a mainstay of the Chicago scene and recorded with a ...

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Video / DVD

Benny Carter: Whisper to One

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 19, 2020

Back in June 1995 Benny Carter recorded two albums of his own songs. Aptly titled Benny Carter Songbook I and Benny Carter Songbook II, the albums showcased the alto saxophonist-trumpeter playing his own compositions. The albums were the brainchild of producers Danny Kapilian and Ed Berger. On the second volume was a song called Whisper to One. Carter wrote the music and Al Stillman, a Jewish lyricist, wrote the words. I was mystified, since the song was completely new to ...

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Video / DVD

Lennie Best Quintet, 1984

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 18, 2020

A superb vibraphonist who was well known in the U.K. but not so much in the U.S. was Lennie Best. Strangely, he barely recorded as a leader or sideman. In this televised gig that was part of England's Bracknell Jazz Festival in 1984, the Lennie Best Quintet performed on the BBC. The show was edited down to a half hour. Here's Best (vib), Kathy Stobart (ts, ss), Alan Berry (p), Tony Archer (b) and Tony Kinsey (d), with Ruth Allan ...

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Video / DVD

Kenny Dorham in 10 Tracks

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 16, 2020

Trumpeter Kenny Dorham never received the recognition he deserved. I'm not sure why. Part of the problem, I suppose, is that he was a gentler soul among hotter players such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown and others. He certainly was on plenty of remarkable recording sessions, and his playing was pretty and engaging. Listening to him yesterday, I figured why not blow him out a bit today to show just how remarkable he was. Choosing 10 ...

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Video / DVD