Late yesterday afternoon, I heard from Kristian St. Clair, a filmmaker whose work includes This Is Gary McFarland, a superb documentary on the composer-arranger (more here and here).
Kristian tells me he is busy on a new film project about Seattle jazz multi-instrumentalist Chuck Mahaffay. In the process, he said, he came across what he says are likely the earliest known videos and first gigs of guitarists Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner in the early 1960s.
Given the hacking cough off-mic, I'm guessing the first Coryell video is from early December of 1963, while he was majoring in journalism at the University of Washington. As the following clip shows, it clearly was taped for TV when folk was still in vogue and the bossa nova was emerging but before the Beatles arrived in February 1964. They also work in a Christmas song, signaling the time of year. Here's Coryell on the Katherine Wise Show on Seattle's KOMO with The Individuals, featuring Coryell on guitar, Tammy Burdett on bass, Chuck Mahaffay on drums and Bill Franklin on vocals and vibes...
Here's the same group on the same show. But while the gray suits are the same, Tammy's hair style has become more Kennedy-esque and she's in a brighter dress, so this would likely have been the spring of 1964, when Louis Armstrong's recording of Hello Dolly was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. Coryell is clearly way ahead of his years on the guitar...
Next up is Ralph Towner, who must have replaced Coryell in The Individuals after Coryell left for New York in 1965. The group is now a trio, with Towner on piano and guitar, Tammy on bass and vocals, and Chuck Mahaffay on drums and clarinet. Given Tammy's earrings and pale lipstick color, I'd say it's fall 1965, a few months after João Donato released his album The New Sound of Brazil that June. Donato's album featured his composition Amazonas, a song The Individuals play in the following clip. Here they are, opening with Tammy's Table Talk...
And here's the group on Seattle's Buddy Webber show. Towner is on piano and guitar, Chuck Mahaffay is on drums and Tammy is on bass and vocals. Given Tammy's hair and dress, I'd say this was November of 1966, since they perform the theme from A Man and a Woman. The French film had been released that July followed by the popular soundtrack in October. Dig Tammy's nifty Table Talk...
Kristian tells me he is busy on a new film project about Seattle jazz multi-instrumentalist Chuck Mahaffay. In the process, he said, he came across what he says are likely the earliest known videos and first gigs of guitarists Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner in the early 1960s.
Given the hacking cough off-mic, I'm guessing the first Coryell video is from early December of 1963, while he was majoring in journalism at the University of Washington. As the following clip shows, it clearly was taped for TV when folk was still in vogue and the bossa nova was emerging but before the Beatles arrived in February 1964. They also work in a Christmas song, signaling the time of year. Here's Coryell on the Katherine Wise Show on Seattle's KOMO with The Individuals, featuring Coryell on guitar, Tammy Burdett on bass, Chuck Mahaffay on drums and Bill Franklin on vocals and vibes...
Here's the same group on the same show. But while the gray suits are the same, Tammy's hair style has become more Kennedy-esque and she's in a brighter dress, so this would likely have been the spring of 1964, when Louis Armstrong's recording of Hello Dolly was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. Coryell is clearly way ahead of his years on the guitar...
Next up is Ralph Towner, who must have replaced Coryell in The Individuals after Coryell left for New York in 1965. The group is now a trio, with Towner on piano and guitar, Tammy on bass and vocals, and Chuck Mahaffay on drums and clarinet. Given Tammy's earrings and pale lipstick color, I'd say it's fall 1965, a few months after João Donato released his album The New Sound of Brazil that June. Donato's album featured his composition Amazonas, a song The Individuals play in the following clip. Here they are, opening with Tammy's Table Talk...
And here's the group on Seattle's Buddy Webber show. Towner is on piano and guitar, Chuck Mahaffay is on drums and Tammy is on bass and vocals. Given Tammy's hair and dress, I'd say this was November of 1966, since they perform the theme from A Man and a Woman. The French film had been released that July followed by the popular soundtrack in October. Dig Tammy's nifty Table Talk...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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