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Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)
Aretha Franklin, long considered the undisputed “Queen of Soul” and one of America's most emotional and spiritual interpreters of pop, jazz and soul songs, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit. She was 76. The cause was advanced pancreatic cancer. My Franklin obituary and appreciation for The Wall Street Journal can be found here. Yesterday, ...
Morgana King: 1930-2018
Morgana King, a jazz singer with an unusual voice that seemed more in sync with classical than swing and who is perhaps best known as playing Marlon Brando's wife in the first two Godfather films, died earlier this year on March 22. She was 87. The only reason we know about her passing is that Matt ...
Erroll Garner: Nightconcert
When Erroll Garner died in 1977, his business partner and manager Martha Glaser became executor of his estate. The position gave her full control over Garner's unissued recordings, which she kept under lock and key. When Glaser died in December 2014, the Garner estate passed to the University of Pittsburgh, and material once salted away began ...
Johnny "H" Smith: Open House
Organist Johnny “Hammond" Smith was relentlessly tasty. Whenever I dig into one of his albums, my feet can't stop moving. Hi grooves and chord voicings were intoxicating. One of his finest albums from the first track to the last was Open House. Recorded for Riverside in 1963, the album featured Thad Jones (cnt,tp); Seldon Powell (ts,fl); ...
Billy Taylor: Brazilian Beat
Another rare and stunning Billy Taylor album is Brazilian Beat. It was recorded in 1963 for Sesac Records. Originally known as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, Sesac is the third largest performance-rights organization, behind ASCAP and BMI. Founded in 1930, Sesac's mission was to support European stage authors and composers in seeking American ...
Dionne, Tomasz and Buddy
This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed Dionne Warwick for my “House Call" column in the Mansion section. There's nothing like picking up the ringing phone and hearing, “Mr. Myers? Dionne Warwick." Dionne's voice is unmistakable—like a long wooden match being drawn slowly and seductively across a flint. We talked about childhood and growing ...
Electrifying Track: Heavy Dipper
In September 1957, trumpeter Lee Morgan recorded his album The Cooker with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Heavy Dipper is a Morgan original. It's a light, high-stepping tune that alternates between minor and major keys and has plenty of snap. Everyone in the quintet gets a ...
Freddie Slack in the '40s
Pianist Freddie Slack led smart bands between 1942 and 1949. Many of them featured crafty arrangements that delivered a spectacular snap. They also had marvelous sidemen. Players at different points in time included guitarist T. Bone Walker, trumpeters Mannie Klein and Ray Linn, reed players Barney Bigard and Les Baxter, bassist Howard Rumsey and Harry Babison, ...
Bobby Sanabria: West Side Story
In August 1957, West Side Story opened at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre. The musical was fashioned after Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and was set on New York's Upper West Side in a neighborhood polarized by Puerto Rican and working-class white families. The show received positive reviews, and four years later the musical was adapted for the ...
Electrifying Track: Miss Fine
Let's stick with Oliver Nelson today. In addition to being a high-impact modernist jazz arranger, Nelson was a sensational composer. Miss Fine is from Full Nelson, Nelson's second album as the leader of a big band. The album was recorded for Verve in 1962 and '63, and produced by Creed Taylor. The song, which has a ...
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