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Backgrounder: Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini
Jack Wilson was a jazz pianist with solid commercial instincts. His dashing looks and a fast arranging pen brought him to the attention of Buddy Collette, a West Coast multi-instrumentalist and studio musician. In the early 1960s, Buddy suggested that Wilson move out to Los Angeles, where studio orchestrating and recording work was plentiful. Wilson arrived ...
Video: Carmen McRae With Clarke/Boland
Another day of Carmen McRae at JazzWax, which means you're in for another treat. Today, Bill Kirchner sent along a link to a 1970 taped performance for German TV by McRae with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. It seems the taping was done without an audience. My guess is audience applause was overdubbed for the ...
Carmen McRae: 'After Glow'
Carmen McRae's 1950s Decca recordings remain among her most formative and exquisite. Recorded between 1954 and 1958, the label's nine McRae albums and roughly two dozen singles uniformly captured her voice in solid form, while it was still bouncing around in the midrange before it dropped in the 1960s. After Glow, backed mostly by the Ray ...
Charlie Shavers v. Harry James
Back in early May, I received an email from a reader, Jeremy Mushlin, who had an interesting point: “I will go toe to toe with any Harry James fan and argue that Charlie Shavers was his trumpet-playing equal. Charlie just did not get the same opportunities and also wasn't as well organized as James. Compare Harry ...
Interview: Michael Abene
Michael Abene has always been a double threat. In addition to being a gorgeous pianist and accompanist, he's a towering arranger of big bands, orchestras, singers and instrumental ensembles. Fans of Maynard Ferguson are probably most familiar with his piano playing and arrangements for the band's recordings for Roulette and Mainstream in the 1960s. These days, ...
Backgrounder: Waltel Branco - Mancini Samba '65
There are dozens of albums that interpret the film music of composer-arranger Henry Mancini. Surprisingly, there aren't many of them by Latin leaders. Mancini himself released Mr. Lucky Goes Latin in 1961 and he often included a Latin number in soundtracks. Last week, I found a Brazilian take on Mancini from 1965: Waltel Branco – Mancini ...
George Cotsirilos: 'Refuge'
I loved George Cotsirilos's guitar the moment I heard it. His sound is shrewd and seasoned and he has a refined sense of history. There's ample swing, soul-jazz and a keen sense of fusion in his playing, and I can hear Grant Green's plucking, Pat Metheny's articulation, Joe Pass's chords and John Scofield's note-bending in his ...
Barbara McNair: Lost in the Crowd
Barbara McNair—like Nancy Wilson, Diahann Carroll, Gail Fisher, Della Reese and Freda Payne—was an enormously talented Black supper-club singer, variety show guest, and theater, TV and film actress. And while you likely are familiar with the other women I just mentioned, McNair may not be known to you at all. The songs she was given weren't ...
Interview: John Scofield, Solo
John Scofield has one of the most distinct and fascinating guitar sounds in jazz. Notes are picked and bent, creating a pizzicato-like, jagged sound that meows in places and lingers in others. John and I have been long-time e-mail pen pals and he's a regular reader of this blog, just as I am an avid John ...
Six Smokin' and Grillin' Mixes
Today in the U.S., it's Memorial Day, a national holiday when Americans think about loved ones who fought and perished in wars. But it's also the first unofficial day of summer, a weekend of family get-togethers, a day of BBQ smoking and grilling, and even shopping sales. If you're firing up the smoker or grill today—or ...
