Buck Clayton Quartet 1965

A concert commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the UN

Buck Clayton Quartet

Genève, Switzerland, 24/10/1965

Buck Clayton (trumpet),  Henri Chaix (piano), Isla Eckinger (bass), Pierre Bourru (drums).
Duration 22:35

Set list:

1. 'S Wonderful
2. I Can't Get Started
3. Honeysuckle Rose
4. Perdido

Bill Coleman Meets The New Ragtime Band

Bill Coleman

I have no solid information on this Bill Coleman video, except that it's been filmed in Switzerland in 1969 and transmitted on March 20 of the same year.

From the bass drumhead, one can see that Coleman is accompanied by The New Ragtime Band whose members could be identical to the following line up: Jacky Milliet (clarinet), Pierre Descoeudres (trombone), Vino Montavon (piano), Bernard Moritz (guitar), Hans Schläpfer (bass), and either Marco Steiner or Rolf Sydler on drums.

RIP Peter Schmidlin (1947-2015)

Image courtesy of Dragan Tasic

Swiss jazz drummer Peter Schmidlin, who had played and recorded with Dexter Gordon, Lee Konitz, Dizzy Reece, Slide Hampton, and Don Byas, passed away last Monday, May 25, 2015. He was 68.

Known for his adaptability, perfect sense of timing, and a tasteful touch of swing, Schmidlin was one of the finest European drummers, as well as a producer responsible for issuing on record some of the best American jazz in Switzerland. It's a shame, though not entirely unpredictable, that his death remained unnoticed outside his homeland country.

"Peter Schmidlin was very popular with the US jazz musicians as a swinging drummer," writes Urs Blindenbacher in his obituary of this legend of Swiss Jazz. Blindenbacher also praises Schmildin for his role in connecting the separated worlds of French speaking Swiss jazz with that of the German speaking one.

Peter Schmidlin was born in 1947 in Riehen. He picked up the instrument at 14 and taught himself playing and mastering it. Only two years later, he was named as the best drummer at the Zürich Jazz Festival.

Young Peter with Buck Clayton and Sir Charles Thompson at Casa Bar Zürich

His professional career took off in 1965 and soon he found himself accompanying visiting American musicians, as well as jazz expats and exiles residing in western and northern Europe, a task which continued to the last months of his life.

In later years, he was a permanent member of three major jazz trios, respectively led by Tele Montoliu, Horace Parlan, and Jimmy Woode.

The Cecil Payne-Ron Carter Quintet, 1998

The Cecil Payne-Ron Carter Quintet 

Eric Alexander (ts), Cecil Payne (bars), Stephen Scott (p), Ron Carter (b), Lewis Nash (d).
Jazzfestival Bern, Switzerland, May 8, 1998 

BWi (Payne)
Flyin' Fish (Payne)
Lover Man (Davis-Ramirez-Sherman)
Slide's Blues (Slide Hampton)
Cit Sac (Payne)

The Cecil Payne-Ron Carter Quintet: Slide's Blues

Cecil Payne Dossier#3 - An ongoing series of posts on one of the giants of baritone sax


The Cecil Payne-Ron Carter Quintet
Jazzfestival Bern, Switzerland, May 8, 1998
Slide's Blues

Eric Alexander(ts), Cecil Payne (bars), Stephen Scott (p), Ron Carter (b), Lewis Nash (d).

The Cecil Payne-Ron Carter Duo

Cecil Payne Dossier#2 - An ongoing series of posts on one of the giants of baritone sax  

I just returned from Switzerland, but my heart is still there. I spent four wonderful days in Fribourg, attending FIFF, meeting friends and doing some side activities, including a couple of interviews I gave (on cinema) which in case you are a German reader and interested in Iranian cinema, could be accessed here.

Trying to re-live the memory of the place, nothing serves me better than the Cecil Payne-Ron Carter duo, doing their Lover Man in Bern, Switzerland, May 8, 1998.

The video is from my VHS collection. Still more to come as a part of the Payne dossier.

Last of the Trumpet Masters

This would be the final post from the Trumpet Masters' session in Switzerland, a concert whose footage is now fully presented on this blog.

"Handsome, dark chocolate, a ladies magnet," is Clark Terry's description of Harry "Sweets" Edison, the subject of the first video. Terry met Sweets first in the Basie band: "Svelte physique draped in expensive threads, dripping with accents of rich gold and pristine diamonds. The note that floated through his trumpet made you feel his statement of 'Cool Daddy. Laid-back.'"

Squeeze the Moten Swing

In today's exclusive video, Squeeze Me, the classic 1925 Fats Waller composition, is reinterpreted  by Joe Wilder and Snooky Young. The video continues with Clark Terry and Harry Sweets Edison doing a version of  the Moten Swing, originally the Bennie Moten and the Kansas City Orchestra's hit from 1932.

The rhythm section is Hank Jones, Jesper Lundgaard, Clarence Penn, respectively on piano, bass and drums.

Strays On

 "I referred to him like a lot of the cats did, as 'Strays,'" says Clark Terry of Billy Strayhorn in his autobiography, Clark, which has a lot to say about Ellington years and the people of that tribe.

In a short chapter of the book, dedicated to "Strays," there is nothing but admiration and deep respect for the man and his music both as a composer/arranger and piano player. "Strays was like a breath of fresh air," says Mr Terry, "he had an almost spiritual touch in his writing. Deep undertones that would draw emotion and dig into the psyche." So true.

There are some stories in Clark about the relationship between Duke and Strays, whether artistically, emotionally ("he had a way of calming Duke") or even financially for which CT remembers:

"Strays was a man who lived the most unique life style of anybody. He had no bills: no hotel bills, no apartment bills, no food bills, no clothes or tax bills. No nothing. He didn't have a salary, either. He just signed a tab. Duke paid for everything."

Clark Terry Jives at 5 with Sweets

Back to the Bern Jazz Festival concerts and the Trumpet Summit session, I have another video to present. This one's from the same session as here and here and here, and features Clark Terry and Harry "Sweets" Edison in a performance of Jive at Five.

CT is very fond of Switzerland. He has played there, especially in Bern, many times over the last 5 decades. Even there is a hotel suite in Bern named after him and I believe he had an operation and treatment in Switzerland at some point, probably related to his cancer.

However, in this concert footage, one can hardly see signs of fatigue or malady. Jive at Five is fun and relaxed, and one of the last documentations of these masters playing and jiving together.

A Certain Finesse: Chattin' With Trumpet Masters

From left: Harry Edison, Joe Wilder, Clark Terry

They feel slightly old. They know who's the boss. The music they play is not too bizarre or too personal or too difficult. Of course, it is difficult to deliver with such precision and groove, but never difficult to enjoy. That's more or less how an informal assembly of three trumpet legends feel.

Watch a Swiss TV interview with Clark Terry, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Joe Wilder from 1997.

More Doc Cheatham

I've got another video from the Trumpet Masters session in Bern, Switzerland, featuring Doc Cheatham in his second solo in the concert. Here, in response to Clark Terry's call for encore, Doc gives a warm rendition of If I Could Be You.

Drop Doc Cheatham Off In Harlem

photo by Marc Marnie

Another video from the Legendary Trumpet Masters session in Bern. Here, as a special tribute to Doc Ceatham, he has been given space for a solo on Drop Me Off In Harlem. For accompanists, Hank Jones is on piano, Jesper Lundgaard on bass and Clarence Penn on drums.

Hot Club USA

The fiercely swinging guitar-violin format which became hugely popular by Hot Club de France and its key members Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli was the subject to many imitations and replica bands with various degrees of success. However, throughout the years some original voices arrived who were using the same framework but also were adding a lot of their own. That was the case with the homage band, Hot Club USA whose Django was guitarist extraordinaire Frank Vignola and whose Grappelli, the Uruguayan Federico Britos.

The Hot Club USA's first and best known recording [picture above] featured many classics of Reinhardt-Grappelli team, as well as some original compositions by Britos. "Vignola is a furious demon of strummed chords," wrote one reviewer of the album, while commenting on the combination of these two talents as "quite attractive."

I have a special video of Hot Club USA playing one of the songs from the debut album which, to me knowledge, has never been seen in the online world. But before any further procedure, allow me to introduce to leading musicians a little bit more:

The Swiss Jazz School Big Band feat. Bobby Shew

The Swiss Jazz School is the first independent jazz school in Europe which was founded in 1967. In this video from 1997 the school's big band enjoys a 30th anniversary concert at the local Bern Jazz Festival.

The first solo, on trumpet, is beautifully played by the American trumpeter Bobby Shew. The second soloist is the Swiss George Robert on alto saxophone. I don't know the name of the rest of the musicians in the band. Any Swiss jazz expert out there to give us some names?

January 15 update: Bobby Shew Remembers

Diana Krall Trio: Frim Fram Sauce

I must confess I've never been a Diana Krall fan. I have no patience nor musical interest to listen to any of her songs through the end. It seems to me that her success, more than proving her talent, is a great lesson in using new means of gigantic publicity machines of big time companies, if it doesn't remind of the conformity among so called jazz critics. But as the theme of the month on this blog happens to be Women in Jazz, I try to see the whole width of the spectrum and with such intention a superstar like Krall cannot be ignored.

This is, again, from my old VHS tapes of the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland, 1997. Here, Krall is accompanied by great Georgian guitar man, Russell Malone who is the most rewarding player on this song. In addition to Malone, Neal Caine who was a remember of Elvin Jones band before joining this touring trio is on bass. Neal, after staying for one year, left for Betty Carter's band. Very wise indeed!

They perform Frim Fram Sauce.

VHS Diaries#2: Betty Carter

Betty Carter performing her composition Tight in Switzerland, 1997.

The Illinois Jacquet Big Band feat. Clark Terry

This post features the third and last part of the Illinois Jacquet Big Band in Bern, Switzerland. The first two parts can be accessed here and here.

For the final number, One O'Clock Jump, Clark Terry joins the stage whose asociation with Jacquet goes back to the late 1940s. Later, in various occasions, they were also both hired by Norman Granz for the legendary jam session concerts. On record, they both play in Newport in New York 1972, and then two decades later as members of George Wein And The Newport All Stars. Finally, in 2004, when Jacquet passed away, CT paid his last tribute to the old time collaborator by playing in his memorial service.

Now the music:

One O'Clock Jump (soloists: Richard Wyands, Clark Terry, Wyands, Jacquet, trombone?, Arthur Daniels, Terry, Fred Hunter, Winston Byrd)

Four Trumpet Masters

I'm knee-deep into London Film Festival and an overdose in film has kept me away from this venue and blogging on jazz. For the sake of reassurance, and promsing that I would return to jazz life soon, I'm posting a recent VHS transfer of a fabulous trumpet summit in which the cream of Ellington and Basie trumpet alumni are on stage together: Joe Wilder, Snooky Young, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Clark Terry!

The event was originally presented as the Legendary Trumpet Masters at the Jazzfestival Bern '97 (May 1) in Switzerland. In addition to the trumpets, our favorite Hank Jones is on piano, Jesper Lundgard on bass and Clarence Penn on drums. The whole concert (also featuring Doc Cheatham), including its nine songs, intro and interviews was broadcast on Swiss and German TVs in 1997.