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Miles Davis: Walkin' and Musings
The 1950s produced two pop superstars—Elvis Presley and Miles Davis. Both began the decade recording for smaller labels and were launched into the mainstream by larger ones—Presley on Sun and then RCA, and Davis on Prestige and then Columbia. Both were perceived as ultra cool and a departure from the norm, both were viewed as sex ...
Backgrounder: East Coast - West Coast Scene (1954)
By 1954, the 10-inch 33 1/3 and seven-inch 45 album formats had made inroads with consumers and were quickly replacing the 78. On the West Coast, labels that had been cultivating Los Angeles musicians came to realize that jazz out there had its own sound. With the 10-inch LP expected to expand to 12 inches within ...
Perfection: Tommy Flanagan: In the Blue of Evening
In 1960, pianist Tommy Flanagan recorded The Tommy Flanagan Trio, an album of easy-going jazz for Prestige's Moodsville line. Joining Flanagan was the exceptional Tommy Potter of bass and superb Roy Haynes on drums. By then, Flanagan had made a name for himself as a first-call sideman and would soon become Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist. While the ...
Jimmy Mundy: Swing Era Barnstormer
Like Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Edgar Sampson and Sy Oliver, Jimmy Mundy was one of the architects of the swing era in the early 1930s. Born in Cincinnatti, Ohio, in 1907, Mundy played the tenor saxophone in regional bands, where he developed an ear for arranging. He first worked as an arranger for Earl Hines in ...
Take Five with Singer, Guitarist and Pianist Martina Fiserova
by AAJ Staff
Meet Martina Fiserova Martina Fišerová is a New York-based singer, guitarist, songwriter and lyricist. Born and raised in Bohemia, Czech Republic, she graduated as a vocalist from the jazz-focused Jaroslav Ježek College, in addition to studying anthroposophical music therapy. She has performed alongside a number of prominent artists at music festivals and venues throughout Europe, as ...
Backgrounder: Oscar Pettiford Orchestra (1956-57)
In February 1943, bassist Oscar Pettiford joined Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in a Chicago hotel room and jammed on Sweet Georgia Brown, which was captured on a private recording. This was before bebop was codified, and Parker and Gillespie were virtually unknown outside of the big bands they were in. By the end of 1943, ...
Perfection: Gerry Mulligan - Night Lights (1963)
If all Gerry Mulligan had composed and recorded was the song Night Lights, he'd be extraordinary. The impossibly beautiful and hypnotic ballad appeared on his 1963 album of the same name. To make the track even more compelling, Mulligan plays piano, not baritone saxophone, and he was accompanied by Art Farmer (flhrn), Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb), Jim ...
Backgrounder: Georgie Auld Plays the Winners, 1963
Tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld led many terrific groups. Ten years ago, I posted about his 1940s and early '50s ensembles (go here). Today, a 12-inch gem: Georgie Auld Quintet Plays the Winners. Recorded for Philips in Hollywood in April 1963, Auld's quintet featured Frank Rosolino (tb), Georgie Auld (ts), Lou Levy (p). Leroy Vinnegar (b) and ...
Perfection: Teddy Charles - Borodin Bossa Nova (1963)
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 ...
Backgrounder: Remo Rau - Evening at Cafe Africana
Zurich's Club Africana was a stronghold of modern Swiss jazz in the early 1960s, featuring musicians such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana. The club's program director, Remo Rau, a vibraphonist, also led a house-band quartet that consisted of Remo Rau (vib), Renato Anselmi (p), Roger Dannhauer (b) and Alex Bally (d). In May ...
