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Perfection: Teddy Charles - Borodin Bossa Nova (1963)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In April and May of 1963, Teddy Charles, accompanied by an all-start group of musicians, recorded Russia Goes Jazz: Swinging Themes From the Great Russian Composers (United Artists). The point of the LP, conceived by Teddy, was to record Russian classical works that influenced American popular songs. One of them was Borodin Bossa Nova, recorded in April 1963, with Jerome Richardson (fl), Zoot Sims (ts), Eric Dolphy (b-cl), Pepper Adams (bar), Teddy Charles (vib), Hall Overton (p), Jimmy Raney (g), ...
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Bob Florence Limited Edition: Tribute
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bob Florence was a monster arranger, composer and pianist whose big bands were on par with the best of them in the late 1950s and beyond. Unfortunately, he didn't have a high enough profile for household recognition. Nevertheless, Florence's charts had the kick of a mule and plenty of swing. On June 15, 2008, a month after he passed away, his band got together at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood to pay tribute to their late leader. Here's ...
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Woody Herman: Thundering Herd, 1977
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Last week, I heard from Peter Coppock, who came across a newly posted concert by Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd in 1977. As Peter rightly noted, “The late '70s Herds get overlooked. Woody is in a groovy mood here and using a cane because he had just survived a near fatal car accident. “I met him when I was 15 and studying trumpet. I told him it was my goal to someday play for him. Woody said, 'You better ...
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Perfection: Lennie Tristano - Wow (1949)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Between bebop in the mid—and late 1940s and hard bop in the mid-1950s and beyond, an exciting but short-lived jazz style surfaced known as cool. The movement was a product of formally educated jazz musicians who, at the tail end of the '40s integrated classical and jazz. The artists were had started out in bop but chose to create a form that was dryer independent of the blues. Cool saxophonists often played without vibrato and in the higher register of ...
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Backgrounder: Rosinha de Valença (1964)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Rosinha de Valença was a Brazilian singer-songwriter and one of her country's finest acoustic guitarists. Born Maria Rosa Canelas in 1941, she learned to play by accompanying music on the radio. Translated into English, her professional name means Rosinha from Valença, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The name was given to her by Sérgio Porto, a journalist she met after moving into Rio in 1960 in search of gigs. Porto felt as if she captured her ...
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Perfection: David Allyn - Love Is a Serious Thing (1962)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Frank Sinatra had a soft spot for singer David Allyn. His affection and help in Las Vegas wasn't based on pity. David had suffered psychologically during his service in World War II and went to prison for eight years on drug charges after attempts to self-medicate led to addiction. Sinatra admired Allyn because he was a superb emotional jazz balladeer who also could swing. But they shared more. Both singers had major professional turning points at virtually the same time—in ...
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