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Electrifying: Eurupeans Only
In July 1953, drummer Louie Bellson recorded an album in Los Angeles for Norman Granz's Norgran label called Skin Deep. For the big band tracks, he assembled quite a stellar showcase of talent. The band featured Harry “Sweets" Edison, Maynard Ferguson, Conrad Gozzo and Ray Linn (tp); Hoyt Bohannon, Herbie Harper and Tommy Pederson (tb); Benny ...
Helen Merrill With Strings
Between 1954 and 1957, singer Helen Merrill recorded five albums for Mercury's EmArcy division. Yesterday, while writing, I spent the day listening to all of them as well as a bunch of assorted tracks she recorded for the label. Perhaps the best known album of the bunch is Helen Merrill, which she made in December 1954 ...
Red Mitchell and Tony Fruscella
After my post last week on trumpeter Tony Fruscella, reader Don Frese wrote and asked if knew of bassist Red Mitchell's vocalese rendition of Fruscella's recording of I'll Be Seeing You. That song appears on Fruscella's Tony Fruscella, recorded by Atlantic in April 1955. I wasn't aware of Mitchell's vocal so I tracked it down and ...
Big Jay McNeely (1927-2018)
Cecil “Big Jay" NcNeely, the father of the R&B tenor saxophone whose stamina and extravagant stage act starting in the late 1940s included playing on his back, setting the tone for rock 'n' roll and soul artists who followed, died on Sept. 16. He was 91. Big Jay had several significant R&B hits in the late ...
Tony Fruscella: Lost Trumpet
Tony Fruscella is among the least known trumpeters of the cool jazz movement. His dry tone sits somewhere on a sliding scale between Miles Davis and Chet Baker, with touches of Art Farmer. Yet Fruscella's sound was plenty distinct. With Fruscella, there were no piercing or bent notes or a fleshy romanticism. His improvised lines were ...
Electrifying Track: A Primera Vez
Two Jims and Zoot (1964) is a spectacular album that began as guitarist Jimmy Raney's idea. For some time, he had wanted to record an album with two guitars. When guitarist Jim Hall became available, the pair added tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Osie Johnson. On the album, the quintet takes on ...
Ron Feuer: Vital Organ
Organist Ron Feuer recorded just one jazz leadership album—Vital Organ, in 1959. It also happened to be his first album. The date for Bob Keane's Del-Fi label featured Frank Rosolino (tb), Bill Perkins (ts), Ron Feuer (org), Paul Moer (p), Jimmy Bond (b) and Frank Butler and Bill Higgins (d). Feuer was just 20 at the ...
10 Clips: End of a Love Affair
Here's what we know: The End of a Love Affair was composed by Edward “E.C. or Bud" Redding and published in 1950. That's it. There's virtually nothing about Redding's career online or the purpose of the song. So I rolled up my sleeves and discovered that it was likely written for a New York cabaret or ...
Electrifying Track: The Eagle Flies
Vibraphonist Teddy Charles was one cool cat. Every time I called him back in the late 2000s, his lingo was straight out of the hipster's manual. And it all came naturally to Teddy, since he lived the jazz life. In addition to being a swinging vibraphonist, he was a superb record producer. In April 1957, Teddy ...
Maynard Ferguson: Jam Sessions
Born in Verdun, Canada, Maynard Ferguson quickly outgrew the dance bands he played with in Montreal and Quebec. Though his main instrument was the trumpet, Ferguson could play a range of brass instruments in his teens. By the late 1940s, he was being courted by bandleaders in the U.S. who were eager for a hot trumpet—the ...
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