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Backgrounder: Os Poligonais (1964)
Os Poligonais (The Polygonals) was a Brazilian instrumental quintet formed by pianist Vicente Salvia in the early 1960s to capitalize on the bossa nova trend. Joining him were Vidal Sbrighi on tenor sax, clarinet and flute, Edmar Tomy on guitar, Álvaro Galati on bass and Pedro dos Santos Eduardo on drums. The group's first, eponymous album ...
Backgrounder: Art Farmer and Hal McKusick, 1956-58
Two of the prettiest and most sophisticated players in the 1950s were trumpeter Art Farmer and alto saxophonist Hal McKusick. They recorded often throughout the decade in big bands and ensembles but they only recorded 19 tracks in the quintet format—two albums in all. In the years before Hal died, in 2012, we spoke often by ...
Backgrounder: Mundell Lowe - Satan in High Heels
Back in the early 1960s, if you opened a tabloid newspaper in New York like the Post or Daily News, you often saw small ads for risque films that were strictly for adults. These were the pre-ratings years, when kids were only allowed in to see Disney films and similar fare. The films I'm referring to ...
Backgrounder: Herbie Nichols Trio - Master Takes
Pianist Herbie Nichols has long been considered a Thelonious Monk disciple. In truth, Nichols had his own modernist bag that combined bebop's jagged attack and Dixieland's hard syncopation. A fascinating artist who was largely ignored during his lifetime (1919-1963), Nichols is perhaps best known for penning the jazz standard Lady Sings the Blues. Nichols began recording ...
Backgrounder: Jazz Studio, From Hollywood (1954)
In 1954, when Decca began to issue 12-inch pop LPs, it suddenly had a vast pipeline to fill with new releases. To load up the schedule of LPs, Decca producers on the East and West coasts turned to jazz studio players to crank out recordings. Not only could these musicians compose and arrange songs fast, they ...
Backgrounder: Jimmy Forrest - Out of the Forrest
Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest began his recording career in 1943 with Andy Kirk's band. There, he learned all he needed to know about swing. By 1949, he was touring and recording with Duke Ellington. Next came his first leadership album, Night Train, in 1951, featuring the hit title song. Night Train, a lift from Ellington's Happy ...
Backgrounder: Hank Mobley Quintet, 1957
Recorded in August 1957, Hank Mobely Quintet featured the tenor saxophonist fronting a band that had been an early lineup of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The only difference was that Art Farmer played trumpet instead of Kenny Dorham. The quintet featured Hank Mobley (ts), Art Farmer (tp), Horace Silver (p), Doug Watkins (b) and ...
Backgrounder: Brown & Roach - At Basin Street
Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded several live club albums with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, but only two were done in the studio—At Basin Street and Sonny Rollins Plus Four. Though the former LP's title (for EmArcy) infers they recorded live at New York's Basin Street (not Basin Street East, which wouldn't open until 1959), they ...
Backgrounder: The Strolling Mr. Eldridge, 1953
In December 1953, trumpeter Roy “Little Jazz" Eldridge recorded The Strolling Mr. Eldridge for Norman Granz's Clef label. Eldridge was a member of Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tour and recording group of all stars. The album was released during the “speed wars," when Columbia's 33 1/3 and RCA's 45 rpm formats were in fierce competition. ...
Backgrounder: Miles Davis - Miles Ahead, 1957
Miles Davis's Miles Ahead: Miles +19 for Columbia is one of jazz's most exquisite orchestral albums. The LP was arranged by Gil Evans, who, with Davis, selected nine jazz songs plus an Evans-Davis original and dressed them up in a modernist, Thornhillian style. The result is spectacular. Davis on flugelhorn is gentle and at times even ...
