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Backgrounder: Moacir Santos - Coisas
Moacir Santos was a Brazilian composer, multi-instrumentalist and educator who never became as well known as his peers, including Bola Sete and Baden Powell. While he collaborated on songs with Nara Leão, Roberto Menescal and Sérgio Mendes among others, he privately taught artists who went on to become highly successful global bossa nova singers and songwriters. ...
Backgrounder: Benny Golson and the Philadelphians
What made jazz recordings distinct from most other forms of American music were the different combinations of individuals who came together to to record. The results were often fascinating, with different musical personalities creating both contrasts and harmony as a unit and through improvisation. One such album was Benny Golson and the Philadelphians. Recorded in November ...
Backgrounder: The Return of Art Pepper
After time in prison in California following a drug bust in 1954, alto saxophonist Art Pepper returned to work in Los Angeles in 1956. The Return of Art Pepper was recorded on August 6, 1956 for Jazz West, a subsidiary of Aladdin Records. The LP was produced by Herb Kimmel, who ran the the Jazz West ...
Backgrounder: Buddy Collette - Man of Many Parts
West Coast jazz in the 1950s wasn't exclusively a white enterprise. There was a significant number of black jazz artists in Los Angeles then as well who played in the breezy, contrapuntal style. But in the late 1940s and early '50s, black jazz artists were largely isolated as a result of the segregated locals of the ...
Backgrounder: Frankie Laine Jazz Spectacular
In the mid-1940s, Frankie Laine was an up-and-coming club singer with a jazz feel. His first recordings were in Los Angeles in 1944 and '45, but by the summer of 1946 he signed with the newly formed Mercury Records, where Mitch Miller was head of A&R. So began a string of jazz-flavored pop hits that included ...
Backgrounder: Buddy Collette's Swinging Shepherds
One of the finest jazz flute albums is Buddy Collette's Swinging Shepherds (and the followup, At the Cinema). Recorded in Los Angeles in March 1958, the album for EmArcy was arranged mostly by Pete Rugolo and featured Buddy Collette and Paul Horn (fl); Harry Klee (pic,fl); Shank (pic,fl); Bill Miller (p); Joe Comfort (b) and Bill ...
Backgrounder: Vic Lewis - Plays Bossa Nova
Vic Lewis was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader with enormous taste and ease. In 1963, he recorded a superb album entitled Vic Lewis Plays Bossa Nova at Home and Away (CSD). The first side was recorded in London in February and the second side was recorded in Hollywood in January. What's remarkable about this album ...
Backgrounder: Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle
In 1964, Brazil's Equipe label released Impulso!, an album by a 20-year-old studio keyboardist and arranger named Eumir Deodato. Today, Deodato is probably best known for his 1973 album Prelude and his work for producer Creed Taylor and his CTI label in the 1970s. Back in Brazil in the early 1960s, Deodato played organ in the ...
Backgrounder: Grant Green, Gooden's Corner
If you're new to Grant Green and want to really get a sense of why the guitarist was so special, this week's Backgrounder is for you. Recorded in December 1961, Gooden's Corner was among a bunch of Blue Note albums by Green that weren't released soon after they were recorded. In this album's case, the album ...
Backgrounder: Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers
With spring less than a week away, it's time for upbeat West Coast jazz. The last time I posted on Shorty Rogers was over the holidays when I highlighted The Swingin' Nutcracker. Before that, I featured Chances Are It Swings as a Backgrounder. This week, it's the finger-snapping Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers, as suggested by ...
