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Roy Haynes: 1925-2024
Roy Haynes, whose power and sensitivity on the drums made him a first choice for leading jazz instrumentalists and singers and whose tasteful pokes, polyrhythms and grooves landed him on swing, bebop, cool, Third Stream, spiritual, free jazz and fusion recording sessions, died on November 12. He was 99. Born eight years after the first jazz ...
Backgrounder: My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (1956)
Broadway musical scores didn't become fair game for small jazz groups until Lerner and Loewe's successful My Fair Lady score hit the stage in 1956. Of course, individual songs from theatrical shows were always played and recorded by dance bands dating back to the 1920s. But jazz interpretations of full Broadway scores didn't arrive until after ...
Summer Samba: Astrud Gilberto in Italy, 1967
By 1967, Brazilian bossa-nova singer Astrud Gilberto had become a solo artist. She was finally out from under the menacing tyranny and harassment of tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. Astrud had been fronting Getz's groups ever since the album Getz/Gilberto came out in March 1964 and became a massive hit. When Getz/Gilberto was recorded in 1963, Verve ...
Lou Donaldson (1926-2024)
Lou Donaldson, a Charlie Parker-influenced alto saxophonist who played major roles in the invention of two major jazz movements and bridged the gap between jazz, soul and what he called “swinging bebop," died on November 9. He was 98. In 1952, Lou led a Blue Note recording that became one of the earliest hard bop sessions. ...
Backgrounder: Jazz Studio, From Hollywood (1954)
In 1954, when Decca began to issue 12-inch pop LPs, it suddenly had a vast pipeline to fill with new releases. To load up the schedule of LPs, Decca producers on the East and West coasts turned to jazz studio players to crank out recordings. Not only could these musicians compose and arrange songs fast, they ...
Perfection: Chet Baker, Estate (1985)
In November 1985, three years before his death at age 58, Baker performed at the Moonlight Club in Macerata, on Italy's east coast, halfway between Florence and Rome. Baker had been touring in Europe that year with a range of different European musicians, and he extended the tour by a month in Italy, hiring Michel Graillier ...
Quincy Jones in Paris, 1957-1960
It is impossible to fully appreciate the delight of the late Quincy Jones without doing a deep dive into his years in Paris. From 1957 to 1960, Jones studied composition and theory there with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen, performed at the Paris Olympia, toured Europe and became music director at Barclay Records. The French label ...
Quincy Jones (1933-2024)
Quincy Jones, whose name became synonymous with excellence in music and whose contributions to jazz opened a new age of swinging elegance influenced by French pop and modern classical, died on November 3. He was 91. Rather than write again about Jones's many accomplishments, I feel it's more illustrative to listen to his career in 14 ...
Gerry Mulligan: 'Spring in Stockholm,' 1959
In early 1958, baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan formed a new pianoless quartet, featuring Art Farmer on trumpet, Henry Grimes on bass and Dave Bailey on drums. By July, Bill Crow had replaced Grimes on bass. The post-war, no-piano format was first pioneered by Mulligan in 1952, with Chet Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and ...
Backgrounder: Jimmy Forrest - Out of the Forrest
Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest began his recording career in 1943 with Andy Kirk's band. There, he learned all he needed to know about swing. By 1949, he was touring and recording with Duke Ellington. Next came his first leadership album, Night Train, in 1951, featuring the hit title song. Night Train, a lift from Ellington's Happy ...
