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Backgrounder: Urbie Green - Persuasive Trombone
In February 1960, trombonist Urbie Green went into Fine Recording Studios and recorded most of The Persuasive Trombone Vol. 1 for Command. The remaining four tracks were recorded in March 1961. The record label was formed in 1959 by Enoch Light and sold to ABC Paramount late that year. Light was a dance band leader, producer, ...
Backgrounder: Lucky Thompson + Oscar Pettiford
After I posted Tuesday on saxophonist Lucky Thompson, the emails poured in. So I decided to make my Backgrounder this week one of the Thompson albums I love dearly: Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford. The material was recorded in January and February 1956. The four January tracks are Bo-Bi My Boy, OP Meets LT, Tricotism and ...
Backgrounder: Johnny Alf, 1971
Two sides of a single released in Brazil in 1953 by Johnny Alf set the stage for the bossa nova four years later. For those sides, Alf assembled a trio that featured him on piano, guitarist Garoto and bassist Vidal. The instrumentals were Alf's own Falseta (or Deceit) and Luiz Bonfa's De Cigarro em Cigarro (or ...
Backgrounder: Leny Andrade, 1968
In 1968, Brazilian singer Leny Andrade released an album with celebrated vibraphonist Breno Sauer. The album, Leny Andrade, was recorded in Mexico, where Andrade would spend five years before moving on to the U.S. and Europe. On the album, Andrade and Sauer were joined by Adão Pinheiro (p), Portinho (b) and Erneo Eger (d). Many Brazilian ...
Backgrounder: Freddie Green's Mr. Rhythm
Freddie Green, Count Basie's long-time rhythm guitarist, recorded just one album as a leader—Mr. Rhythm, for RCA in December 1955. Green's tenure with Basie date back to March 1937. On Mr. Rhythm, Green assembled an all-star group that was arranged like a pocket version of Basie's band, complete with Nat Pierce on piano: Joe Newman (tp), ...
Backgrounder: Roberto Menescal - A Nova Bossa
Guitarist-composer Roberto Menescal is one of the bossa nova's pioneers. Though his songs were recorded by other artists years earlier, his first leadership album, A Nova Bossa, was released in 1964 and it was a stunner. The album featured Roberto Menescal (g), Henri Ackselrud (fl), Eumir Deodato (p), Ugo Marotta (vib), Sérgio Barrozo (b) and João ...
Backgrounder: Dave Pell Octet 'Plays Rodgers & Hart'
I received so much email yesterday about the octet format that I figured I'd end the week with a Backgrounder by the Dave Pell Octet. The octet's arrangements in the 1950s were designed to give the eight musicians a West Coast big band sound—a miniaturized Les Brown Orchestra if you will. Prior to Dave Pell, there ...
Backgrounder: Ernest Ranglin's Wranglin'
Ernest Ranglin is one of Jamaica's finest jazz, ska, mento and rock-steady guitarists. Best of all, he has always mixed them up while playing—a technique that is astonishing and has always left me speechless. In 1962, when the James Bond film Dr. No was being shot in Jamaica, Ranglin was hired to compose music for some ...
Backgrounder: Buddy DeFranco & Tommy Gumina
In 1960, clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and accordionist Tommy Gumina got together with bass and drums to record the first of five albums—Pacific Standard (Swingin') Time. It was on Decca. The next four were on Mercury, including their first for the label—Presenting the Buddy DeFranco/Tommy Gumina Quartet, recorded in 1961. The tracks on Presenting were When Lights ...
Backgrounder: Frank Wess's 'Trombones & Flute'
Frank Wess was a powerhouse big-band tenor saxophonist and flutist and a lyrical player in small groups, especially those he led. One of my favorite ensemble albums by Wess is Trombones & Flute, which he recorded for Savoy in July 1956. The personnel featured a chunk of Count Basie's band, for which Wess played at the ...
