Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Joe Turner - Champion Jack Dupree

A rare French TV gem from the Sixties featuring two greats: Joe Turner born in Baltimore, 3 Nov 1907 died in Montreuil, France, 21 July 1990 (not to be confused with his great blues singer namesake "Big" Joe Turner), a dazzling stride pianist who played with all the greats in Harlem during the Twenties, Louis Armstrong amongst them, and the great "Champion" Jack Dupree (1910 - 1992), the embodiment of of the New Orleans blues and boogie woogie pianist, a true barrelhouse "professor" and a great showman to boot as these videos attest. The show is left in its entirety to preserve the period feel and to marvel at the level of mass culture back then compared to now. First number, a James P. Johnson original, "Keeping Out Of The Grass".


This is an original, "Cloud Fifteen" followed by James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout". Just watch this man's complete mastery of the instrument and its nuances and his incredible time feel -- there are moments when Oscar Peterson, no less, comes to mind.


This is W. C. Handy's classic, "St. Louis Blues" preceded by a small Joe Turner interview in French, as Joe was already a French resident by then.


It's time for the Champ to sit in front of those 88 keys and deliver the goods on his own (and aptly named) "The Woman I Love Takes My Appetite".


Champion's own "Diggin' My Potatoes". Check out the zany effect those rings make hitting those ebonies.


"Chicken Baby", a great Champ blues number showing his Louisiana roots.


The Champ displaying his amazing boogie woogie credentials on the first ever boogie woogie hit, Pinteop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie", what else?
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Johnny Griffin - Arthur Taylor Quartet , Paris 1971

Tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin (b. 1928), affectionately called "the little giant" due to his diminutive stature by his fellow musicians, will certainly go down in history for his dazzlingly energetic solos, played lightning-fast with near perfect technique - one of hard-bop movement's shining stars.

He started his career with Lionel Hampton's big band in 1945 and by the time this French video was filmed in 1971 Griffin had been an expatriate living in France since 1963, same year as the great hard-bop drummer Arthur "Art" Taylor (1929-1995), one of the genre's foremost practitioners, who accompanies him here in Charlie Parker's famous blues "Now's The Time" along with two French musicians, Rene Urtreger on piano and Alby Cullaz on bass.



Charlie Parker's famous calypso - tinged "My Little Swede Shoes"


Thelonious Monk's famous blues "Blue Monk"


"Blues For Harvey" a blazing duet and a display of extreme musicianship by both these masters.


*all videos from my personal collection posted on youtube and elsewhere on the web.
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Monday, September 17, 2007

Joe Zawinul - Leverkusener Jazz Festival November 2002

We continue the tribute to this jazz giant: In November 2002, a historic concert took place at the "Leverkusener Jazztage" in Germany to celebrate Joe Zawinul's 70th birthday. The musical retrospective of Zawinul's career featured the WDR Big Band along with several awesome soloists, including Zawinul's former bandmates from Weather Report percussionist Alex Acunia, drummer Peter Erskine and bass ace Victor Bailey. The program consisted of arrangements of Weather Report compositions by Vince Mendoza, "Db Waltz" fron "Domino Theory" and "Fast City" from "Night Passage" to be followed by a performance of the Zawinul Syndicate of the time proper. This is "Db Waltz".



This is "Fast City" from Weather Report LP "Night Passage"



It's time for The Zawinul Syndicate proper to take center stage in this magnificent 2002 concert. Joe Zawinul aided by Amit Chatterjee on guitar and vocals, Etienne Mbappe on bass, Paco Sery on drums and Manolo Badrena on percussion, all masters in their respective instruments give us wonderful moments with their all encompassing music. This music is indeed a celebration of life but not describable in some kind of style as Amit Chatterjee said.



Joe Zawinul summons Portuguese singer Maria Joao onstage for an exquisite duet which will make your hair stand on end, "Villa Lobos".



This is "Tower Of Silence", featuring amazing vocals from Joe Zawinul and guitarist Amit Chatterjee.



Goosebumps time. Joe Zawinul with Sabine Kabongo, an amazing Belgian - born singer of Congolese roots and long time member of the Syndicate and Etienne M'bappe on Duke Ellington's masterpiece "Come Sunday".



Time for the full Syndicate lineup of Joe Zawinul, Amit Chatterjee, Sabine Kabongo, Paco Sery, Etienne M'bappe and Manolo Badrena to blow the rooftop with their signature burner "Rooftops Of Vienna" as a conclusion of this wonderful concert.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

In Memoriam Josef Zawinul (1932 - 2007)

Josef Zawinul, pianist, electric keyboard and jazz fusion pioneer and co-founder of seminal band Weather Report, passed away September 11 in his hometown of Vienna, Austria. He celebrated his 75th birthday in July, and had recently completed a summer tour of Europe with his band the Zawinul Syndicate for their twenty year jubilee, after which he entered a hospital in Vienna for treatment of cancer.

"Joe Zawinul was born on July 7, 1932 in earth time, and on September 11, 2007 in eternal time. He lives on," his son Erich said in a statement yesterday.

For all of us who grew up listening to Joe Zawinul's music this couldn't be more true -- the man and his music will continue to inspire.

In this small tribute we get to see what a great musician and wonderful human being Joe Zawinul was -- an amazing life for an amazing man. May he rest in peace.








Career highlights from an Austrian TV special, including a brilliant duet with fellow Viennese pianist extraordinaire Friedrich Gulda and, of course, his mega hit Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 1985

Very few tenor sax players could match sax legend Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (1922 - 1986) when he locked that jaw. A disciple of the Coleman Hawkins hot school of saxophone playing, he never failed to deliver the goods when called for.

Regrettably, as is the case with many jazz figures, he has never gained the recognition he so righteously deserved.

Here's a chance to see him performing in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1985 just one year before his untimely death. Alongside him are drums giant Ed Thigpen, a long standing Oscar Peterson collaborator, a Copenhagen resident since the early 70s, and locals Niels Jorgen Steen on piano and Jesper Lundgaard on bass.

The setting is very relaxed, no doubt aided by Davis' larger than life stage persona, and the music flows like water. A great jazz moment.


Take The "A" Train


Just Friends


Out Of Nowhere


The Shadow Of Your Smile


If I Had You


Light And Lovely


'S Wonderful


Those silk Shiny Stockings


Meditation


I Can't Get Started


Don't Get Around Much Anymore
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Thursday, August 2, 2007

Televised Jazz #1

The 1950s was the golden era of televised jazz. Nearly all jazz greats of the time appeared on syndicated TV. This post is dedicated to them.

CBS producer Robert Herridge (seen talking on first clip) brought to CBS studio 61 in NYC on April 2, 1959 Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb to give us their masterpiece "So What".

This date was taped for The Sound of Miles Davis, an installment of The Robert Herridge Theater. Altoist Cannonball Adderley, a regular member of this band, was absent because of a migraine headache, which may explain why Davis solos twice on "So What," both before and after Coltrane. Broadcast on July 21, 1960. A jazz moment to cherish forever.



From the same date as above, Miles Davis, John Coltrane on alto, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers join forces with The Gil Evans Orchestra to give us Dave Brubeck's "The Duke". Big band jazz with a twist indeed!

Personnel:
Miles Davis (tpt, flh); John Coltrane ( as); Paul Chambers (b); Jimmy Cobb (d); Ernie Royal (tpt); Clyde Reisinger (tpt); Louis Mucci (tpt); Johnny Coles (tpt); Emmett Berry (tpt); Frank Rehak (tb); Jimmy Cleveland (tb); Bill Elton (tb); Rod Levitt (valve tb); Julius Watkins (frh); Robert Northern (frh); Bill Barber (tuba); Romeo Penque (cl, fl); Eddie Caine (cl, fl); Danny Bank (bcl); Gil Evans (arr, cond)



Ahmad Jamal's tasty tune "New Rhumba", same personnel as above



Gil Evans' "Blues For Pablo", same personnel as above


That's all for now folks, enjoy.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Miles Davis: Isle of Wight 1970

Upturn every jazz stone after the 1940s and chances are that you will see the name Miles Davis written underneath more often than not.

He started his meteoric musical career as a young trumpet player beside Charlie Parker, and it has been upwards ever since.

His Birth Of The Cool sessions of 1949 with his nonet first introduced jazz audiences to the notion of cool jazz. His subsequent quintet of the mid fifties featuring John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb et al, showed the world how hard bop should be.

As if these were not enough, his 1958 "Kind Of Blue" album, THE most successful jazz album of all time, gave the world modal jazz.

His second great quintet with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams of the 1960s explored the new territory of post and freebop.

And finally, his 1969 Bitches Brew album, turned the jazz world on its head with its reckless electric experimentalism, and fusion music was born, not to mention that musicians in the caliber of Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul and many others won instant recognition. Not bad at all.

The 1970 Isle of Wight festival was by far the largest and most famous of these early festivals indeed it was said at the time to be one of the largest human gatherings in the world surpassing the attendance at Woodstock. The most notable of over fifty performers were The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Ten Years After, Joni Mitchell, Melanie, Donovan, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull and Tiny Tim. The unexpected level of the attendees (tickets holders accounted only for 50.000) was beyond that which the festival organizers and local authorities could supply adequate amenities and guarantee public safety for. Such concerns led in 1971, to Parliament passing the "Isle of Wight Act" preventing gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license.

The festival was revived only in 2002.

A piece of music history then, Miles Davis in the company of jazz superstars to-be Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira and Gary Bartz, in a 35 minute free form improvisation which Miles, after being asked the title famously replied "oh, call it anything".



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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Jazz On A Summer's Day (1958)

Hailed by critics to be the best jazz film ever, famous photographer's Bert Stern's Jazz On A Summer's Day lives up to its reputation today.

Shot in Newport, RI during the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and the America's Cup trials of the same year, initially intended as a full length motion picture, it was downsized to a concert documentary due to lack of funds. We have to thank our good luck for this, as this film broke new ground on how a live music performance should be captured. It literally wrote the book.

Shot in lush color instead of the grim black and white used until then, including scenes in broad daylight, interleaving performances with the sailing races going on simultaneously, it made people look at jazz from an entirely different perspective.

This was half a century ago and it really shows. People hit it off very differently back then, as the amazing crowd scenes attest to. With rock 'n roll just around the corner ready to take the popular music scene by storm, these were merrier, more innocent times. Enjoy.

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Bill Evans - London 1965

Bill Evans (August 16, 1929 - September 15, 1980), the pianist's pianist, literally invented modern jazz piano. His use of impressionist harmony, his inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire and his syncopated and polyrhythmic melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists, including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett.

Here's a rare chance to see the Bill Evans Trio appearing in London on March 19, 1965 for the legendary BBC TV series Jazz 625. Chronologically, this is the third Bill Evans Trio from a lineage of great trios consisting of Chuck Israels on bass and Larry Bunker on drums. The presence of Humphrey Lyttelton as host, a man who has graced Brithsh TV and jazz for decades, only adds to the enjoyment of this musical tour de force.

























P.S. All videos from my personal collection, posted on various video hosting web sites.
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Friday, July 20, 2007

John McLaughlin - Remember Shakti

Ιn the mid-1970's many believed John McLaughlin had committed commercial suicide by abandoning electric instruments and Western sensibilities in favor of an all-acoustic group with Indian musicians. In fact, record sales for this group, Shakti (translates in Sanskrit to "female creative power" or "goddess") were quite disappointing. Sometimes though, a musician has to follow his muse. In this case, McLaughlin was led to create a very fertile groundbreaking group in the form of Shakti. Shakti was really the first band to truly capture the essence of what we now call "World Music." Shakti's dependence on Eastern musical models infused with Western jazz-like improvisation made for an exciting and influential stew.

One doesn't have to look very far into McLaughlin's past to see why such a band would appeal to him. His own inclinations toward Eastern music can be heard on side two of his earlier recording My Goal's Beyond. Certainly, he was influenced even before that outing by the pop mysticism of the times and his own involvement in seeking self-realization through Eastern philosophy, not to mention of course his study of Indian music.

Remember Shakti, formed in the mid 90s, features original Shakti member, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, one of the most respected musicians in India, U. Srinivas on mandolin, Shankar Mahadevan on vocals and V. Selvaganesh on percussion.

Remember Shakti, just like John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, is extremely multinational, and multigenerational.

This is reflective, serious East-meets-West music full of truly virtuosic moments and plenty of drama. Above all, this music is good for the soul.

Let's enjoy this unique group in their appearance in Vienne,France on July 2, 2004.












P.S. All videos from my personal collection, posted on various video hosting web sites.
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