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Perfection: Gerry Mulligan - Westwood Walk (1953)
Every celebrity I've interviewed who lives in the Westwood section of Los Angeles has said the reason they live there is you don't have to take a car to get around the village. You can walk. I'm not sure if that was the meaning behind Gerry Mulligan's song title, but it would certainly make sense. Or ...
Christmastime
Featuring the music of Swingle Singers
Duration: 31:51
This year's inductee is Christmastime by the Swingle Singers. First released by the Philips label in 1968, the album features the vocal group famous for singing notes and tones in counterpoint rather than lyrics. The a cappella group was formed by Ward Swingle in 1962 in France after his stretch as a member of Les Double Six, which included Mimi Perrin and Christiane Legrand, Michel Legrand's sister.
Known best for their interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque classical works, the Swingle Singers recorded this beautiful Christmas album in France with a jazz feel, produced and engineered by Pierre Fatosme. It's absolutely gorgeous, gentle and sophisticated with seasonal charm and grace.
Backgrounder: Horace Silver Trio (1952)
Looking back, we can say now that Horace Silver was way ahead of his time. The pianist not only invented hard bop piano but also funk. All in 1952, two years after being discovered by tenor saxophonist Stan Getz in Hartford, Ct. Silver's first album was a 10-inch LP recorded for Blue Note in October 1952. ...
Perfection: Bill Harris Herd - Blackstrap (1952)
There were New York big bands in the early 1950s and then there was the Bill Harris Herd in 1952—a pack of ex-Hermanites, or former members of Woody Herman's band. If you're hip to your New York studio guys, then the following personnel should blow your mind: Charles Frankhauser, Bernie Glow, Neal Hefti, Al Porcino and ...
Five Recently Uploaded Concert Videos
Today, five concert videos that recently went up on YouTube featuring exceptional jazz artists I've been thinking about lately... Here's Eliane Elias with Marc Johnson (b), Graham Dechter (g) and Rafael Barata (d), at Jazz à Vienne, France, in 2014... Here's the McCoy Tyner Quintet in 1990, with Freddie Hubbard (tp, fl-h), Ralph Moore (ts, ss), ...
Backgrounder: Bossa Session (1964)
Happy Thanksgiving to my readers in the U.S. and abroad! To provide you with an after-dinner musical digestivo, I've chosen a wonderful bossa nova album on Elenco. Elenco was one of the most influential Brazilian record labels. Founded by producer Aloysio de Oliveira (above) in 1963, the label was instrumental in widening the popularity of the ...
Perfection: Frank Sinatra - There's a Small Hotel
Readers often ask me for my favorite Frank Sinatra track and arrangement from the singer's Capitol years (1953-1962). While I can't tell you which is No. 1 on my list—there are simply too many great ones—I can tell you which recording is in my top 3: There's a Small Hotel. For the film Pal Joey (1957), ...
Miles Davis: Miles 54, the Prestige Recordings
In 1954, Miles Davis's future meant considerably more than his past. Recording for Prestige since 1951 (The New Sounds was his first album for the label), the trumpeter came into his own in 1954. Returning to New York in February of that year after kicking his heroin habit, Davis had also kicked his bebop fixation. What ...
Backgrounder: Hank Mobley - Soul Station (1960)
Soul Station was Hank Mobley's finest album. The trio behind him on the Blue Note release was tough, sensitive and swinging, and the song choices make this a perfect album. The four originals by the tenor saxophonist are among his best, and the two standards chosen are in the pocket for this quartet. Recorded in February ...
Perfection: Herb Pomeroy - 'Down Home Outing' ('58)
From my perspective, one of the only big bands in 1958 that rivaled Maynard Ferguson's in terms of innovation was Herb Pomeroy's. Pomeroy was an exquisite and much-admired Boston trumpeter, and his late-1950s band was first rate in terms of arrangements and individual talent. His finest album was Band in Boston, recorded in November 1958. Bob ...
