Home » Search Center » Results: Backgrounder
Results for "Backgrounder"
Backgrounder: Shorty Rogers Courts the Count
Whenever the jazz conversation turns to West Coast jazz, the talk usually centers on the laid-back style's major influences, including tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Woody Herman's Four Brothers band and Gerry Mulligan's quartet and arrangements. The biggest influence of all is rarely mentioned—Count Basie. Many of the leading West Coast arrangers of the day have cited ...
Backgrounder: Bird With Strings: The Masters
In yesterday's post, I looked at Ken Peplowski's new album, Unheard Bird, featuring arrangements for Charlie “Bird" Parker with strings that were never recorded by the alto saxophonist. The natural followup for today's Backgrounder is the complete Charlie Parker With Strings: The Master Takes. This album gathers together all of the master takes of Bird's string ...
Backgrounder: Gigi Gryce's Nica's Tempo, 1955
Gigi Gryce was one of jazz's most sensual arrangers. Like Billy Strayhorn, Tadd Dameron, Quincy Jones, Benny Golson and others, Gryce favored a cool sophistication in his compositions and arrangements. He was so exceptional as an orchestrator that it's easy to forget he was also a terrific alto saxophonist. One of Gryce's finest albums and a ...
Backgrounder: Kenny Dorham: Una Mas, 1963
The second to last studio album trumpeter Kenny Dorham released as a leader before he died in 1972 was Una Mas (One More Time). Featuring just three original songs, the album was one of his best. An early adapter of bebop in the mid-1940s, Dorham was most famously in Charlie Parker's quintet of 1948 and '49, ...
Backgrounder: Ben Webster - King of the Tenors
Too often we think of the post-war tenor saxophone revolution as being solely in the hands of the tough Coleman Hawkins and laid back Lester Young. There actually was a third revolutionary in the mix—Ben Webster. The breathy Ellingtonian swinger had a gruffer sound than Prez but was more romantic and seductive than Hawk. And while ...
Backgrounder: Frank Rosolino - Frankly Speaking
In 1954, as the recording industry expanded to meet increased demand, Stan Kenton was keen on retaining key members of his orchestra. Many of these top artists were restless to make names for themselves and lead recording sessions. To keep them in the fold, Kenton launched an album series for Capitol under the banner “Stan Kenton ...
Backgrounder: Maynard Ferguson - Around the Horn
Recorded in November 1955 and May 1956, Maynard Ferguson's Around the Horn With Maynard Ferguson remains a spectacular album. All 12 tracks were composed and arranged by the late Bill Holman, and the band was top notch. The band featured Ferguson (tp,b-tp,vtb); Buddy Childers and Ray Linn (tp); Bob Burgess (tb); Herb Geller (as); Georgie Auld ...
Backgrounder: Jazz Sounds From Peter Gunn
One could argue that Henry Mancini picked up where Bill Holman left off. As noted earlier this week, Bill's arrangements for recordings captured the sound of 1950s Los Angeles' jazzy cool, with his charts clutch-shifting like brand-new cars cruising the region's many freeways. Mancini's music, by contrast, was for TV and the movies, and captured the ...
Backgrounder: Barney Kessel - Kessel's Kit, 1969
In the spring and early summer of 1969, guitarist Barney Kessel was on an extensive solo European tour. In each country, he picked up local players for his performances. In two of those countries—France and Italy, he recorded albums. In Rome, two albums were cut for Italian RCA—Reflections in Rome and Kessel's Kit, later known as ...
Backgrounder: Hank Mobley - Poppin', 1966
In tribute to Michael Cuscuna, the great jazz-reissue record producer and Mosaic co-founder who died April 19, I thought I'd feature one of my favorite Hank Mobley albums today as a Backgrounder. Michael found Poppin' in the Blue Note vaults when he was there and released the album for the first time in 1980. If not ...
