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Ron Blake: Mistaken Identity
I'm picky about saxophonists. There are plenty of contemporary good ones but great ones tell a story on their horn with seductive determination, confidence and conviction. And when it comes to recording albums, taste is everything, especially regarding song choices. Ron Blake is a saxophonist who checks off all these boxes. His new album, Mistaken Identity ...
Backgrounder: Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery remains one of jazz's finest guitar albums. Recorded for Riverside in January 1960 and released in April, the album came out just one month after Montgomery's first album for the label, A Dynamic New Sound. It's highly unusual for any producer to release two albums by a new artist ...
Two Bill Evans Videos Recently Uploaded
Yesterday, the autumn sky in New York was bumper-to-bumper with billowy clouds in all shades of white and slate grey. No rain, just a sea of moody cumulus formations muscling their way east across Manhattan. A perfect day to write with Bill Evans playing. Which led me to three videos of Evans—two that went up at ...
Carla Bley: 1936-2023
Carla Bley, a pianist, composer and arranger who carved out her own niche in avant-garde jazz, creating a singular musical style that was both daring and distinctly tender, died on October 17. She was 87. During my interview with Carla for The Wall Street Journal in 2020, she was remarkably open and almost journalistic recalling her ...
Sol Schlinger, Baritone Sax Extraordinaire
In the 1950s, when the 12-inch album became dominant, many studios recording jazz LPs needed musicians who could record perfectly in the fewest number of takes. Such skills included top-notch sight reading, the ability to play multiple instruments flawlessly and artists who could blow beautiful solos. To streamline their operations, producers began forming groups of musicians ...
Hal Schaefer: Marilyn Monroe and Two Albums
Like Erroll Garner, Hal Schaefer had his own distinctive jazz piano style and transformd every song he played into pure magic. He could turn standards inside out with a swinging fury and, with his right hand, whip up improvised lines that left listeners dazzled. Born in 1925 in Queens, N.Y., Schaefer began playing professionally at resorts ...
Backgrounder: Johnny Richards' Walk Softly
As West Coast arrangers go, Johnny Richards was spectacular. Like Bill Holman and Shorty Rogers, he had an authentic feel for the Hollywood scene and how to blend glamor with art. To stir this mood, Richards made wonderful use of French horns and piccolos, and he always threw in a touch of Latin flavor. His arrangements ...
Sy Oliver's Arrangements in 10 Clips
Yesterday's post on arranger, trumpeter and vocalist Sy Oliver generated many emails from readers who have long loved his work and those who weren't familiar with him. In yesterday's post, I shared some of Oliver's classic arrangements for Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra. To drive home Oliver's importance and influence, here are 10 of my favorite ...
Sy Oliver: Easy Walker and Sentimental Sy
Sy Oliver was one of the most important arrangers of the swing era. A trumpeter, singer and arranger in Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in the 1930s, Oliver was hired by Tommy Dorsey in 1939 to give the band a more authentic Savoy Ballroom sound. Oliver's good fortune came the following January when Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey and ...
Backgrounders: Basie With Quincy and Hefti
In 1958, the French Vogue label put out a double LP in Europe entitled Count Basie Plays Quincy Jones & Neal Hefti. Essentially, it was a re-issue of two previous Roulette releases—Basie One More Time: Music From the Pen of Quincy Jones (1960) and Basie Plays Hefti (1958). Both are classics in the Basie canon and ...
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