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Perfection: Urbie Green - Please (1957)
If you've always wondered what all the fuss was about when jazz talk turns to trombonist Urbie Green, his recording of Please should bring you up to speed. Composed by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, Please was first recorded by Bing Crosby with Anson Weeks and His Orchestra in 1932. It also was showcased by Crosby ...
Earl Swope: 11 Tracks on Trombone
With the arrival of bebop in 1946 and the proliferation of independent record labels, trombonists seemed perfectly positioned to take on the new music. Perhaps it was the fluidity of the instrument's slide. Whatever the reason, a surging number began to emerge from the big bands to master the modernist form. The list included J.J. Johnson, ...
Backgrounder: Buddy Fite - Tasty (1975)
Unless you lived in western Oregon in the late 1960s and '70s or the 1990s, you probably have no idea who Buddy Fite was. I bumped into his jazz guitar playing by accident last week on YouTube and was astonished. So I did a little research in old newspapers. Born in Vancouver, Wash., in 1938, Ronald ...
Perfection: Maynard Ferguson - Starfire (1959)
One of the late Benny Golson's prettiest ballads is Starfire. For some strange reason, Benny never recorded it, and now I wish I had asked him why not. The song was recorded only a few times, most notably by Maynard Ferguson and His Orchestra on June 17, 1959. Benny wrote the arrangement for him. Just as ...
Two Dozen More Versions of 'So Rare'
Following my post on Jimmy Dorsey's So Rare, I received a flood of emails from readers who are fans of the late 1950s version and had favorites. The addictive tune was written by composer Jerry Herst and lyricist Jack Sharpe, but before it was published in 1937, Fred Astaire sang the song early that year on ...
Red Rodney, Before Charlie Parker
Before joining the Charlie Parker Quintet in late 1949, trumpeter Red Rodney (Robert Chudnick) had quite an illustrious and prolific career in big bands. Born in Philadelphia, Rodney turned pro at 15 and played in the horn section of major bands, from 1944 to 1949. Here's the list in order: Jimmy Dorsey, Elliot Lawrence, Gene Krupa, ...
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 ...
Perfection: Serge Chaloff - 'The Most!' (1949)
One of jazz's many paradoxes is that West Coast jazz was created largely by East Coast jazz musicians, and East Coast jazz was heavily influenced by West Coast musicians. Shorty Rogers, Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, Terry Gibbs, Don Fagerquist and Dave Pell, to name just a handful, were artists who grew up on the East Coast. ...
Mike Abene's Charts for Maynard Ferguson
Following my Perfection post last week on Mike Abene's rip-roaring composition and arrangement of The Fox Hunt for Maynard Ferguson in 1962, Bill Kirchner sent along a treat. As post-1960 jazz orchestral arrangers go, Mike is among the finest, and his charts for Ferguson's big band are gracefully ferocious. Bill's treat? He put together all 17 ...
Kenny Wheeler Legacy: The Lost Scores
Kenny Wheeler isn't a household name in many American jazz circles. The Canadian trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer was based in the U.K. starting in the 1950s. As a composer and arranger of jazz orchestral scores, he was among the most inventive, daring and gifted in the post-1960 era. [Photo above of Kenny Wheeler in 1988, courtesy ...
