The Infinity of Lists, by Umberto Eco, is among the titles on my to-read list, though even before opening the book, and judging from the cover, I can catch the point and apply it to this list of my favorite studio recording of American jazz musicians in Paris.
The relationship between Paris and musicians has been mostly a love affair, started from the early years of jazz and continued to this day, with the post war years as the peak of interest, visits and involvement in Parisian scene. The curiosity about jazz, similar to that of African artwork revival in the early 20th century Paris, was expanding in various directions in the years between early 1950s and late 1960s. Jazz appeared in or influenced French literature and cinema, while I'm sure, the connection between this American art and France goes beyond these two primary examples.
With a long history of hosting American jazz musicians and giving them the space to play and record, the Paris-recorded albums are too important to remain unlisted. This is one attempt to pay a closer listen to the Parisian jazz records.
These are recordings I have listened to and mostly loved over the years, knowing that there are still hundreds of recordings there, waiting to be rediscovered. Probably you will notice the absence of more contemporary albums on the list, but that can be explained in regard to the current international status of jazz and the blurred concepts of nationality and borders in the 21th century jazz scene. Now, appearing in a Parisian studio or a concert hall is nothing unusual or unique for any internationally recognized artist. But I reckon, back in the 1950s, it must have been a rare experience being present and recording in Paris for someone like Gerald Wiggins. This uniqueness is derived from, among many other things, the status of Afro-Americans in France and the fact that they have been cherished as artists and seen as heroes of the Existentialist and Anti-colonial movements of the post war period. Many of these notions remained a romantic and flawed reading of jazz history, but the recorded documents tell of a joy and sense of exploration which was bestowed to the musicians because of the place of recording.
This list was initiated as a part of my short-lived jazz program, targeted for Iranian listeners, which ran between 2011 and early 2012. The episodes 22 to 24 were titled Jazz In Paris, and during three sessions I played many tracks from the albums I've listed here. They are available here, here and here.
this picture is from another performance of the second sacred concert
I think what I've gathered here, from various sources, is the closest thing to the original broadcast of the Second Sacred Concert in Sweden, unless one of you readers know more about the different versions of this legendary concert.
The concert was performed at the Gustaf Vasa Church of Stockholm, Sweden, on November 6, 1969. The original broadcast (presented here) opens with Meditation, follows by Almighty God Has Those Angels (feat. Alice Babs and Russell Procope), Shepherd Who Watches Over The Night Flock (feat. Cootie Williams), Heaven (feat. Babs and Johnny Hodges), and last but not least Freedom (feat. Babs and Tony Watkins).
It is in Freedom that Ellington shares Billy Strayhorn's principles of freedom with the audience, the principles his deceased collaborator lived with all through his short life.These four principles could be the essence of Ellington's Sacred Concerts, or at least the most "sacred" parts of them:
"Freedom from hate, unconditionally. Freedom from self-pity. Freedom from fear of possibly doing something that may help someone else more than it will him. Freedom from the kind of pride that could make a man feel he’s better than his brother."
Update: Alice Babs passed away on February 11, 2014. R.I.P.
The year is 1957, and the session, one of the most enduring in jazz history. If you like cinema, an analogy can be made between this session and a film called RoGoPag, directed by Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard and Piere Paolo Passolini. The session is simply called Together, alluding to the mere excitement of putting together the cream of Mainstream musicians under one roof and they blow with such versatility and ease. The Rosellini of the session is Coleman Hawkins, it's Godard, Cootie Williams, and Rex Stewart being its PPP.
For the list of other musicians supporting the Three Musketeers scroll down the page to see a scan of the liner notes, penned by no one but Monsieur André Hodeir (The LP came out in France.)
The audio file's from David W. Niven's vault, accompanied by his commentary (info mostly comes from the liner notes) between the tracks.
André Hodeir here: The Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded Concerto for Cootie, on March 15, 1940. It was especially written for his trumpet player, Cootie Williams. Later, Bob Russell wrote lyrics for the instrumental piece, and in 14 August 1943 Ellington did record the vocal version, featuring Al Hibbler as the singer, and apparently "it was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart." This time the title of the song changed to Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me this and was recorded many times after that. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Dinah Washington were among the people who sang in what was originally a concerto for trumpet wizard and master of mute plunger, Cootie Williams.
All recorded in Paris, with exception of the first track, recorded in New York City.
Coleman Hawkins & Manny Albam Orchestra I Love Paris
Chauncey Welsch (tr), Romeo Penque (t), Ray Beckienstein (f, sax), Al Epstein (f, sax), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Marty Wilson (vibe), Barry Galbraith (g), Hank Jones (p), Arnold Fishkin (b), Osie Johnson (d)
July 9, 1956
Sonny Criss Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Sonny Criss (alto sax), Georges Arvanitas (org), Rene Thomas (g), Pierre Michelot (b), Philippe Combelle (d)
April 22 or 25, 1963
During the spring of 1962, trumpeter Cootie Williams was still working with the Benny Goodman band. “Sometimes Goodman would let you play,” Williams said, “and other times he wouldn’t. He has his ways as everyone knows…. I’d been talking with Harry Carney. ‘Tell Duke…that I’m ready to come back.’” He rejoined the Duke’s orchestra in September 1962. “He provided a sense of stability in the trumpet section,” Mercer Ellington said. “There had been a lot of changes.”
Here is a hair-raising example of “stability in the trumpet section,” a growling sound, Cootie, the greatest story-teller on trumpet is back to the line. What majesty, what beauty! This is a roaring take of Minnie the Moocher, recorded December, 1962, New York City. With Cootie Williams; Roy Burrows; Cat Anderson; Lawrence Brown; Chuck Connors; Buster Cooper; Johnny Hodges; Jimmy Hamilton; Russell Procope; Paul Gonsalves; Harry Carney; Ernie Shepard; Sam Woodyard. Though it was recorded in 1962, remained in shelf until duke’s passing. Then under supervision of Stanley Dance appeared in Recollection of the big band era LP. The tune is arranged by Eddie Barefield (1909–91), a saxophonist, clarinetist and arranger most noteworthy for his work with Bennie Moten, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Coleman Hawkins, Sammy Price, Bernie Young, and Ben Webster.
This is the first recording of Cootie Williams with Duke, at least, first we can hear – not necessarily in chronological order - since the November of 1940. Oh God! 22 years have been passed!
Classics 827 Cootie Williams & His Orchestra 1941-1944 Release Date: 1995
Rating: A
Other notable musicians in this CD:
-->Johnny Guarnieri, Jo Jones, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Bud Powell. label(s): Okeh, Hit, Columbia, CBS
Number of sessions: 6
Unissued materials: Yes (two rejected tracks from Okeh label)
Track Highlights: Blue Garden Blues, Sweet Lorraine, 'Round Midnight, Fly Right, West End Blues. Other Ratings:Allmusic4 1/2 (from 5), Penguin Guide3 1/2 (from 4)
Other issue or reissues: 1941-1944 (Jazz Archives, 1996) Echoes of Harlem (Pearl, 1996)
About the period: Sometime around 1940 Cootie Williams left Duke Ellington's band and this gave a cat like Raymond Scott to write a tune by the name of “when cootie left duke”. This was the impact of cootie’s style and personality as far as the horn was concerned. He worked for a year with the Benny Goodman band and then decided to establish his own big band unit. This was financially a fluff but musically it was a band that apart from having the master himself had name trumpeters like Emmett Perry who worked with Dizz and George Treadwell and Eddie Vinson and Sam Taylor. All in all it was a marvelous band and laterwards introduced people like Bud Powell and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis to the jazz world. Cootie’s talent-scouting went further with the experimental work with the compositions of a cat like Monk, who was utterly unknown back in the mid-forties. Downbeat writer, Frank Stacy, wrote back in February 1944 about “the astounding trumpet section” and the solo work of the Sam “the man” Taylor. Cootie was crowned as the king of them all trumpet players of the time with “the most solid tone, phrasing, unique ideas and what not”. There’s the very famous number, written by Duke for Cootie back in 1936, that was originally carrying the name of “concerto for cootie”. At the end of 1946 it had become a matter of financial burden for master Williams to keep on going with the idea of having a band of his own. He was forced to cut it to a combo format. He almost disappeared in coming years from the actual jazz scene to return to Ellington orchestra around early sixties. The three Cootie Williams sets from the “Classics” series were my first introduction to the label. It was “love at the first note” and the beginning of my long obsession with Cootie’s sound. And when recently a friend asked me if I be compelled to pick one, and only one, jazz musician for the rest of my life; who would it be? I answered him without a moment of uncertainty: Cootie Williams.
The Album: The Classics compilations do not include material recorded under any other leader, so the tracks with Lionel Hampton's band or Barney Bigard's Jazzopators (previously available on Topaz compilation -- see other issues section) are not included.
As so often in this valuable and clearly documented series, one is apt to be distracted from the leader's achievement by early sightings of soon-to-be-important players. Bud Powell's appearance with the Cootie Williams Orchestra marked an important phase in his career, and the band also made the first recordings of two Thelonious Monk compositions, 'Fly Rifgt' (AKA Epistrophy) and 'Round Midnight,' the latter from the August date. Cootie's own contribuatin go their growling, alternately chipper and sombre, way.
Details:
May 7th, 1941 New York
Cootie Williams; Lou McGarity (t)/ Les Robinson(asax); Skippy Martin(barsax) / Johnny Guarnieri(p) / Artie Bernstein(b) / Jo Jones (d)
West End Blues (King Oliver, Williams)
Ain't Misbehavin' (Brooks, Razaf, Waller)
Blues in My Condition (Williams)
G-Men (Williams)
April 1st, 1942 Chicago
Cootie Williams; Milton Fraser; Joe Guy(t)/ Louis Bacon(t, Voc Track: 6) / Jonas Walker; Robert Horton; Sandy Williams (tb) / Charley Holmes(as)/Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson(as, Voc Track: 7)/ Bob Dorsey; Greely Walton(ts)/John Williams(Barsax) / Kenny Kersey(P) / Norman Keenan(B) /George “Butch” Ballard (d)
Sleepy Valley (Unknown)
Marcheta (Unknown)
When My Baby Left Me (Vinson, Williams)
Fly Right (Epistrophy) (Clarke, Monk)
January 4th, 1944 New York
Cootie Williams(t)/ Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson(as)/ Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis(ts)/Bud Powell(P) / Norman Keenan(B) /Sylvester Payne (d)
You Talk a Little Trash (Williams)
Floogie Boo (Vinson, Williams)
I Don't Know (Vinson, Williams)
Do Some War Work, Baby (Williams) Cootie sings in this track!
January 6th, 1944 New York
Cootie Williams(t)/ Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson(as)/ Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis(ts)/Bud Powell(P) / Norman Keenan(B) /Sylvester Payne (d)
My Old Flame (Coslow, Johnston)
Sweet Lorraine (Burwell, Parish)
Echoes of Harlem (Ellington)
Honeysuckle Rose (Razaf, Waller)
January 6th, 1944 New York
Cootie Williams; Ermit V. Perry; Harold Money Johnson (t)/ Robert Horton; Ed Burke;George Stevenson (tb) /Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson; Charles Holmes(as)/ Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis; Lee Pope (ts)/Eddie de Verteuill (bars)/Bud Powell(P) / Norman Keenan(B) /Sylvester Payne (d)/Pearl Bailey (voc- trcks 17 & 18)
Now I Know (Arlen, Koehler)
Tess's Torch Song (I Had a Man) (Arlen, Koehler)
Cherry Red Blues (Haggart)
Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Ellington, Persons)
August 22nd, 1944 New York
Cootie Williams; Ermit V. Perry; George Treadwell; Lamar Wright; Tommy Stevenson (t)/ Robert Horton; Ed Burke;Ed Glover (tb) /Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson; Frank Powell(as)/Leroy "Sam the Man" Taylor; Lee Pope (ts)/Eddie de Verteuill (bars)/Bud Powell(P) /Leroy Kirkland (g)/ Carl Pruitt(B) /Sylvester Payne (d)
Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? (Austin, Jordan) Vocal: Eddie Vinson
Somebody's Gotta Go (Haggart) Vocal: Eddie Vinson
'Round Midnight (Hanighen, Monk, Williams)
Blue Garden Blues (Royal Garden Blues) (Williams)
All recordings under the title of "Cootie Williams and His Orchestra."Total Time: 72:44
When recently a friend asked me if I be compelled to pick one, and only one, jazz musician to spend rest of my life with his music, I answered him instantly and:"Cootie Williams!"
My story with Cootie is more than 'a jazz fan listening to a giant’s sound.' It’s a lively dialogue. Cootie talks to me with his growling sound and his plunger. He philosophizes things and explains universe in notes and keys. He measures the world in his musical scales. First time I saw him in a video of Duke Ellington orchestra from the late 1960s. I was 16 or 17 back then and I fell in love with Cootie's trumpet playing and his theatrical voodoo-like acts on stage. It was “love at first note” and the beginning of my long obsession with his music and also the beginning of Cootimania.
***
Charles Melvin Williams joined duke back in 1929 and immediately became one of the prominent featured soloists alongside of Bigard, Carney and Hodges. Sometime around 1940 he left the band and this gave a cat like Raymond Scott to write a tune by the name of “when cootie left duke”. This was the impact of cootie’s style and personality as far as the horn was concerned. He worked for a year with the Benny Goodman band and then decided to establish his own big band unit. This was financially a fluff but musically it was a band that apart from having the master himself had name trumpeters like Emmett Perry who worked with Dizz and George Treadwell and Eddie Vinson and Sam Taylor. All in all it was a marvelous band and laterwards introduced people like Bud Powell and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis to the jazz world. Cootie’s talent-scouting went further with the experimental work with the compositions of a cat like Monk, who was utterly unknown back in the mid-forties. Downbeat writer, Frank Stacy, wrote back in February 1944 about “the astounding trumpet section” and the solo work of the Sam “the man” Taylor. Cootie was crowned as the king of them all trumpet players of the time with “the most solid tone, phrasing, unique ideas and what not”. There’s the very famous number, written by Duke for Cootie back in 1936, that was originally carrying the name of “concerto for cootie”. At the end of 1946 it had become a matter of financial burden for master Williams to keep on going with the idea of having a band of his own. He was forced to cut it to a combo format. He almost disappeared in coming years from the actual jazz scene to return to Ellington orchestra around early sixties. God bless the king wherever he may be now.
***
There are only 6 or 7 albums, available under Cootie's own name, but of course there are many by focusing on Ellington and Benny Goodman orchestras. One of the best Cootie recordings - that fortunately is his most accessible - is a live Paris date, 1959, paired in a CD with a top Joe Newman session from 1956 and issued under the title: Jazz at Midnight.
