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Dick Hyman in Concert
Last Friday, I drove down to Princeton University to hear jazz pianist Dick Hyman perform and review the concert for today's Wall Street Journal (go here). Dick, at 88, remains astonishing. If you're unfamiliar with him, Dick is a one-man Smithsonian when it comes to playing jazz keyboard styles. Jazz, today, is hardly easy music, but ...
Van Alexander (1915-2015)
Van Alexander, a big band arranger and bandleader whose arrangements date back to 1936 and was best known for A-Tisket, a Tasket, a song he co-wrote with Ella Fitzgerald and arranged for Fitzgerald and Chick Webb in 1938, died on July 19 in Los Angeles. He was 100. When I interviewed Van in 2012, he was ...
Bob Dylan Goes Electric
As I write in today's Wall Street Journal (go here), a decision made by Bob Dylan 50 years ago this week altered the direction of rock and jazz. On the night of July 25, 1965, Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival on a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. He was backed by Mike Bloomfield on electric ...
Howard Rumsey (1917-2015)
Howard Rumsey, a West Coast jazz bassist who began his recording career in Stan Kenton's orchestra in 1941 and managed the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, Calif., a club that became ground zero for the West Coast jazz sound starting in the early 1950s, died July 15 in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 97. When I interviewed ...
Sassy and Ronnell Bright
I had a lovely phone chat with Ronnell Bright last week. As is the case whenever we talk, the conversation turned to Sarah Vaughan. Ronnell accompanied Sassy in the late 1950s and early '60s before working with Nancy Wilson. As readers of this blog know, Ronnell is my favorite accompanist. I love his chord voicings and ...
Shelly Manne: West Coast Sound
In 1952, Shelly Manne was a bona fide jazz star. The drummer had won the Metronome and Down Beat jazz polls for several years running. But after 10 years in big bands, he was tired of the road. So Shelly and his wife, Flip, moved from New York to the San Fernando Valley in California, where ...
Kenton: Concerts in Miniature
In early 1952, money was tight for Stan Kenton. The musical experiments of his massive 39-piece Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra in 1950 had taken a toll on his wallet. What's more, the music didn't go over well with audiences, who found the classically influenced arrangements largely a bore. Kenton reconfigured his band in early 1952 ...
Oliver Nelson: Fantabulous
Oliver Nelson occupies an interesting space among jazz composers and arrangers in the 1960s. While not as well known as Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin or Claus Ogerman, Nelson is a favorite among those familiar with his music. Unlike many of his peers, Nelson specialized in explosive, blues-centric jazz compositions and charts that could wail and moan with ...
Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges
In the fall of 1960, Ben Webster was on the West Coast freelancing and recording. Johnny Hodges was out there as well with the Duke Ellington Orchestra to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival. On Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving, Webster and Hodges were in San Francisco to record an album for the Verve label ...
Interview: Bill Charlap
New York's 92Y will be holding its 31st annual Jazz in July series from July 21 to 30—a festival that runs six nights over two weeks. The festival's artistic director for the past 11 years has been pianist Bill Charlap, whose warm personality and impeccable technique makes these concerts feel as if you've been invited into ...
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