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Interview: Bob Whitlock (Part 4)
For years, bassist Bob Whitlock has been blamed for getting Chet Baker hooked on heroin in 1952. Bob is named in several books as being the one who set Baker on his ruinous path. The problem is, according to Bob, it's not true. They were together when it happened, but Bob says he didn't encourage Baker ...
Interview: Bob Whitlock (Part 3)
In the history of post-war jazz, Gerry Mulligan may well have been one of the finest all-around musicians, leaders and arrangers. But he wasn't the nicest guy in the world. Which is easy to understand. Constantly creating a vision, finding musicians to execute that vision and making a success of itis akin to being the CEO ...
Interview: Bob Whitlock (Part 2)
Sixty years ago this month, the Gerry Mulligan Quartet was formed. Original members were Mulligan on baritone sax, Chet Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums. Much of the credit for the group goes to Bob Whitlock. If not for him, the quartet may never have been—or at least not in ...
Interview: Bob Whitlock (Part 1)
Bassist Bob Whitlock is so far off the grid there isn't even a Wikipedia page for him or a tribute site. An original member of the piano-less Gerry Mulligan Quartet in 1952 and '53, Bob helped establish a new way of playing bass in a small group on the West Coast—light, bright and conversational rather than ...
Bill Holman on Don Bagley
Don Bagley, a jazz bassist whose thick, meaty time-keeping became the heartbeat of leading West Coast big bands and ensembles of the 1950s and beyond, died July 26. He was 85. [Pictured above: Don Bagley with Julie London in Japan in May 1964] Bagley spent a good portion of the '50s and '60s in the rhythm ...
Ira Gitler on the Ystad Jazz Festival
The 2012 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival opens on Thursday and will feature a wide range of Swedish, European and American jazz artists. Artistic director and pianist Jan Lundgren [pictured above] will be performing, along with Eliane Elias, Billy Harper, Hiromi Uehara and others. On Sundaythe festival's last daythere will be a tribute to Quincy Jones, who ...
Japanese Bossa Nova
I don't know when Japan caught the bossa nova bug, but I suspect it was in 1964, when Sergio Mendes toured there with Nara, the Brazilian vocalist. Helen Merrill's chill Bossa Nova in Tokyo album, recorded for Victor in March 1967 and released there, probably was influential as well. Long story short, Japan produced a large ...
Johnny Smith: Roost Sessions
Each jazz instrument in the '50s had a different set of competitive criteria. Trumpet players were about tension and heat, saxophonists about developing a smooth and swinging sound, and pianists about speed and percussive intensity. As for jazz guitarists, rankings often revolved around the taste of the artists chord and note choices and who could sound ...
Cannonball and the Poll-Winners
In the spring of 1960, fate had its way and a perfect jazz moment occurred in San Francisco. Cannonball Adderley was gigging in town with his quintet, the Oscar Peterson Trio was playing at the Blackhawk and Wes Montgomery arrived in the city to join his brothers, the Montgomery Brothers, on club dates. According to Orrin ...
Mays, Cecil and Sondheim
Our greatest living Broadway composer is Stephen Sondheim. All you have to do is sit through A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods to be smitten by his wordplay and bitten by his melodies. The songs win you over because they are like ...


