1.Minor 2.Some Other Spring 3.Double Image 4.On The Square 5.Spring is Here 6.One More For The Mode 7.What's New 8.Tomorrow, Fairly Cloudy 9.A Foggy Day 10.Someone To Watch Over Me 11.Cross Your Heart 12.You Don't Know What Love Is
Selections #1-4 recorded on May 28, 1954 by the Jimmy Raney Quartet: Jimmy Raney (g) Hall Overton (p) Teddy Kotick (b) Art Mardigan (d)
All other selections recorded Feb 18 and March 8 1955 by the Jimmy Raney Quintet: Jimmy Raney (g) John Wilson (tp) Hall Overton (p) Teddy Kotick (b) Nick Stabulas (d)
Time to turn our attention to Jimmy Raney (1927-1995), one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar and one of a handful of guitarists possessing a really transcendental technique on the instrument.
Raney was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His work as a pro started at the early age of 17, earning accolades for his superb work from 1951–1952 and 1962-1963 with Stan Getz and for his work from 1953–1954 with the Red Norvo trio, replacing Tal Farlow. In 1954 and 1955 he won the Down Beat critics poll for guitar. Raney has worked in a variety of jazz mediums, including cool jazz, bebop, post bop, hard bop and mainstream jazz.
In 1946 he worked for a time as guitarist with the Max Miller Quartet at Elmer's in Chicago, his first paying gig. Raney also worked in the Artie Shaw Orchestra and collaborated with Woody Herman for nine months in 1948. He also collaborated and recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Al Haig and later on with Bob Brookmeyer. In 1967 alcoholism and other professional difficulties led him to leave New York City and return to his native Louisville.
He resurfaced in the 1970s and also did work with his son Doug, an accomplished jazz guitarist in his own right. Raney tragically suffered for thirty years from Meniere's Disease, a degenerative condition that eventually led to near complete deafness in both ears; fortunately, his playing remained unaffected. He died of heart failure,in Louisville Ky. on May 10th of 1995, just short of his 68th birthday. An obituary in the New York Times referred to Jimmy Raney as 'one of the most gifted and influential postwar jazz guitarists in the world.'
An unassuming man, his playing conveyed a gentle, inner fire. Famous for his wry wit, he uttered dictums like the following on the March '77 issue of Guitar Player magazine: "Your melodic gifts really come out when you're playin' a ballad. It's one good way to separate the artist from the bullshit artist. Musicians who can play a million notes and run all over the guitar and sound very impressive are playing their practiced patterns. Give them a slow ballad and then see what their melodies are like. Slowed down a lot of people sound dull and boring." We couldn't agree more Jimmy...
We're still in the wild '60s when Howard Roberts was on a roll producing some very fine pop-oriented guitar jazz as was the fad these days, a fact easily witnessed by these two magnificent Capitol LPs on one CD. Forget rock 'n roll for a moment, this is expertly crafted Daiquiris-by-the-pool music by the top session men du jour.
Personnel: Howard Roberts (guitar); Henry Cain (organ); Bill Pittman (guitar); Chuck Berghofer (bass); Earl Palmer (drums); Jill Roberts (percussion); Larry Bunker (drums)
Track listing: 1.The Shadow of Your Smile 2.Sweet September 3.Pussy Cat 4.Whatever's Fair 5.This Is the Life 6.On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 7.I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her 8.Manha de Carnaval 9.Michelle 10.A Taste of Honey 11.Bye Bye Blues 12.It Was a Very Good Year 13.Soft Winds 14.Autumn Leaves 15.Theme From a Summer Place 16.Mr. Lucky 17.Comin' Home Baby 18.Danke Schoen 19.Work Song 20.Desafinado (Slighty Out of Tune) 21.The In Crowd 22.Misty
Let's continue our tribute to Mr Roberts with two 1965 releases from March and October of that year for Capitol Records dubbed Something's Cookin' and Goodies respectively, conveniently packaged on one CD. Choice of material might seem corny at first, but these classic, compelling performances showcase Roberts' bluesy brilliance and sophistication, as well as the jazzy, streetwise and sometime savage prowess of his combo, hand-picked from Hollywood's top session players that helped define the sound of the '60s, enjoy.
Tracklisting:
1. Bluesette 2. A Hard Day's Night 3. The Lonesome Cowboy 4. Frankie and What's His Name 5. Blues in the Night 6. Cute 7. In a Mellow Tone 8. Charade 9. Maniac 10. Recado Bossa Nova 11. Something's Cookin' 12. People 13. Love 14. Who Can I Turn to (When Nobody Needs Me) 15. Three O'Clock in the Morning 16. Marie 17. Girl Talk 18. Fly Me to the Moon 19. Goodies 20. More 21. I Know a Place 22. Summer Wind 23. Chim Chim Cher-Ee Personnel: Howard Roberts (guitar); John Audino, Al Porcino, Jack Sheldon, Ray Triscari, Bob Bryant, Shorty Rogers (trumpet); Bob Enevoldsen, Frank Rosolino, Ken Shroyer, Gilbert Falco (trombone); Charles Kynard, Pete Jolly, Harry Cain (organ); Donald Peake, Thomas Tedesco, John Pisano (guitar); Chuck Berghofer, Carol Kaye, Max Bennett (bass); Earl Palmer, Hal Blaine, Frank Capp, Shelly Manne (drums); Larry Bunker, Vic Feldman (percussion).
Howard Roberts The Magic Band Live at the Donte's Vol. 1
1 All of You (Porter) 13:30 2 Shiny Stockings (Foster) 15:50 3 All Blues (Davis) 12:40 4 Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Burke, VanHeusen) 12:26 5 When Sunny Gets Blue (Fisher, Segal) 17:17
Personnel Howard Roberts - g Steve Bohannon - org Tom Scott - as, ts & ss Chuck Berghofer - b John Guerin - dr
Recorded July, 1968 at Donte's in Los Angeles, CA.
A little-known guitarist well worth exploring is Mr. Howard Roberts (1929-1992). A respected educator, co-founder of GIT, studio musician (he clocked so many session hours as an LA studio musician that he was referred to as "The Fifth Monkey"), and columnist for Guitar Player Magazine (Roberts and colleague Jerry Hahn practically invented the "guitar columnist" genre), he was above all a master of the instrument and a consummate jazzman. As a tribute to the man, Gibson, the legendary guitar maker, still manufactures one of its best-selling jazz models, Howard Roberts Fusion, tailor-made to meet Roberts' needs. This out-of-print Concord release from 1977 teams up Roberts with legend Ray Brown on bass, Ross Tompkins on piano and Jimmie Smith on drums in a set guaranteed to satisfy jazz guitar fans.
Tracklisting: 1. Dolphin Dance 2. Darn That Dream 3. The Lady Wants to Know 4. Parking Lot Blues 5. Gone With the Wind 6. Serenata 7. Angel Eyes 8. All Blues
Third and final post dedicated to the late great Freddie Hubbard. Forget his jazz - funk extravaganzas of the 70s; this time it's as straight-ahead as can be in the mold this great 1985 performance for Blue Note records 50th anniversary below playing Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island (from Herbie's Empyrean Isles of 1964, an LP Hubbard originally appeared - and excelled - in) amply demonstrates.
This blog laments the passing away of jazz trumpet giant Freddie Hubbard. To this end, some of his most representative recorded works will be presented.
A fitful way to start would be Hubbard's first album as a leader, Open Sesame. Recorded in 1960, it is not only a very good record, it dramatizes history in the making. The trumpeter was not unknown then, but he was still in his early years; so was pianist McCoy Tyner, for whom a momentous association with John Coltrane was just around the corner. Indeed, the best-known musician at the time of this recording was bassist Sam Jones, and while he went on to bigger things with Cannonball Adderley and then Oscar Peterson, it was Hubbard and Tyner who would emerge as unambiguously major figures. That by rights should also have characterized tenorist Tina Brooks, but this superb player (his work on "But Beautiful" here is exquisite) never got the recognition he deserved, dying almost forgotten in 1974 at the age of 42. Further highlights include the leader's "Hub's Nub" and the two takes apiece of the title track and "Gypsy Blue," both excellent compositions by Brooks. Mention should also be made of drummer Clifford Jarvis, a young lion steeped in Blakey, and Rudy Van Gelder's predictably flawless engineering. The music both invigorates and enchants.
"Freddie Hubbard's mixture of forward-looking musical ideas and old-fashioned brassiness might be called the essence of the early-sixties Blue Note sound."
--Peter Keepnews
Freddie Hubbard first played and recorded in Indianapolis with the Montgomery brothers. After moving in 1958 to New York he began a series of brief associations with established jazz musicians, including Philly Joe Jones (1958-59, 1961), Sonny Rollins (1959), Slide Hampton (1959-60), J.J. Johnson (1960), and Quincy Jones, with whom he toured Europe (1960-61). In 1961 he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, but left in 1964 to lead his own group. He also played as a sideman with Max Roach (1965-66).
From 1966 Hubbard worked principally with his own quintets and quartets, though he made a tour of the USA with Herbie Hancock's group V.S.O.P. in 1977. His most constant sideman was Kenny Barron, who played in his groups of the late 1960s (with Louis Hayes), early 1970s (with Hayes and Junior Cook), and early 1980s (with Buster Williams and Al Foster). In the mid-1980s Hubbard made a number of international tours and recorded with all-star groups, often in the company of Joe Henderson, playing a repertory of hard-bop and modal-jazz pieces. He continues to perform and record as a leader, and in 1985 made an album with Woody Shaw.
Hubbard has recorded scores of bop, modal-jazz and jazz-rock albums, both as a sideman and as a leader. In the early 1960s he also participated in such radically experimental sessionsas those for Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and John Coltrane's Ascension albums, but was subsequently criticized for his overly conventional playing. His recordings of the mid-1960s with Hancock placed him among the foremost hard-bop trumpeters, his improvisations combining imaginative melody with a glossy tone, rapid and clean technique, a brilliant high register, a subtle vibrato, and bluesy, squeezed half-valve notes.
In the early 1970s he issued several commercially successful albums with musicians who had formerly played with Miles Davis (Straight Life won a Grammy Award), but for the remainder of the decade he unsuccessfully sought widespread recognition and financial security. He tried funk, all-electronic rock, disco, and overarranged pop music, and concentrated on ostentatious virtuoso displays; his trademark, a climactic trill between nonadjacent pitches (a shake), became a cliche.
During the 1980s, however, he reverted to his former style, improvising on lyrical ballads and complex bop tunes; unfortunately the histrionic elements did not entirely disappear from his playing.
--BARRY KERNFELD, The New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz
A selected discography of Freddie Hubbard albums.
* Open Sesame, 1960, Blue Note. * Hub Cap, 1961, Blue Note. * Ready For Freddie, 1961, Blue Note. * Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard, 1962, Impulse! * Red Clay, 1970, CTI. * Straight Life, 1970, CTI. * Born To Be Blue, 1981, Pablo.
A few posts back we claimed that this blog is dedicated to lesser-known jazz musicians deserving wider recognition. We'll break this rule for now on behalf of this great David Sanborn offering for Verve records, infused in the kind of polished, expertly delivered jazz Sanborn is famous for, with excellent choice of material to boot. Listening to it is like wearing an old, favorite pair of slippers, the perfect holiday companion imo. Enjoy and happy holidays to everyone out there.
The attitude of the gallant Six Hundred which so aroused Lord Tennyson's admiration arose from the fact that the least disposition to ask the reason why was discouraged by tricing the would-be inquirer to the triangle and flogging him into insensibility.
F.J. Veale,
Advance to Barbarism
(Mitre Press, 1968).
Music posted here is for information purposes only. I don't subscribe to the notion that record companies are ripped off by the proliferation of blogs like this one. It is my firm belief that quite the contrary happens i.e. by bringing awareness to hitherto virtually unknown artists to the general public the music benefits greatly and a new level of interest is created.
Listeners are therefore kindly requested to buy the original music and support artists if they fancy what they hear - remember: if you like it, buy it!
