Results for "JazzWax by Marc Myers"

Interview: Hal Blaine

March 23, 2011

Last week I was on assignment for the Wall Street Journal in Palm Desert, Calif. I was there to interview drummer Hal Blaine, who is probably America's greatest living rock and pop musician (you can read my article in today's edition here). If you're like me and grew up in the '60s listening to the radio, ...

Duke Ellington: 1932-1940

March 22, 2011

Don't think of Duke Ellington as a bandleader. Instead,  consider him in the same light as other great entrepreneurs like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). Ellington came up with a great new idea in the early '20s and ran his band and brand like a ...

C is for Civilization

March 21, 2011

Once upon a time there were grownups in the music business.They were around to insist that artists meet standards and to step in when they went too far. Artists, by definition, don't have limits. Many also don't have taste or restraint, nor do they care about such things. Which is why there were record producers some ...

Mills Brothers V. Ink Spots

March 18, 2011

Melvin Sparks (1946-2011)

March 16, 2011

Melvin Sparks, a much-in-demand soul-jazz guitarist who recorded with virtually all of the great organists of the late '60s and '70s and pioneered a sound that borrowed from Grant Green and Sly Stone, died on March 13 . He was 64. Sparks was at his best playing a muscular, groovy rhythm guitar behind organists like Leon ...

Happy Birthday Nat Cole

March 16, 2011

Today is Nat King Cole's birthday. He would have been 92. The pianist and singer was an inspiration to nearly all piano players coming up in the 1940s, and he was all class throughout his life. Cole made everything look easy, even appearing on television. One of his many gifts was the ability to come through ...

Joe Morello Said It

March 14, 2011

Joe Morello, long-time drummer in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, died on March 12. He was 82. In Doug Ramsey's superb book, Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Doug writes of the song Take Five's origin: “Morello said that in concert he used to go into 5/4 time in the drum break of ...

Tubby Hayes: Tubby the Tenor

March 10, 2011

Few English saxophonists could out-swing Tubby Hayes. In fact, many American jazz reed players of the '50s and '60s struggled to keep up. Listening to Hayes' recordings today without knowing who was playing would likely leave you guessing for hours. One of his most exciting albums (and there are many) is Tubby the Tenor, which was ...

Gene Ammons: Up Tight!

March 9, 2011

Gene Ammons' Boss Tenor is arguably the tenor saxophonist's best known and most critically acclaimed album. With songs like Canadian Sunset, Close Your Eyes and Blue Ammons, the June 1960 album has enormous cohesion and creative aggression. But as rich as Boss Tenor is, I've always been more partial to Ammons' Up Tight! and its sister ...

Elvis Presley: Honorable Discharge

March 8, 2011

When Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in March 1958 and deployed to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor, 3rd Armored Division in West Germany, his absence created a rock vacuum. With the King in uniform, other worthy recording artists were poised to command a larger share of the limelight. Rockers-in-waiting included the Everly ...