Burnett James, who is the writer of Coleman Hawkins entry in Encyclopedia Britannica, has a small and out of print book on Hawkins, published in 1984, en many Hawk recordings were out of public reach in pre-digital age. And in this book, in the tradition of best British jazz writers, he has a very good, and positivist introduction to the man and his music that worth repeating here:
"If, as the late Roland Kirk put it, jazz is 'black classical music', some interesting consequences follow. For one thing, it requires not only classic performances but also classic performers; performances, that is, which stand the test of time (and not simply the test of passing fashion), and performers who make a genuine advance in both styles and technique. Without such figures and such performances, no art form can develop and therefore no classic art can emerge.
In jazz there are few records that perpetuate unquestioned classic performances. One is Louis Armstrong's West End Blues; another is Coleman Hawkins's 1939 Body & Soul. There are others, but rather less that may at first be suspected. The classic artist is a rare phenomenon; the artist who both creates the conditions for the emergence of the classic and then proceeds to produce it himself (or herself) is rarer still. Armstrong, Hawkins, Charlie Parker certainly come into this category, Sidney Bechet and Lester Young probably, and of course Duke Ellington although in a slightly different sense and context.
Coleman Hawkins did not of course invent the saxophone in jazz. He did not even 'invent' the tenor saxophone. There were other saxophonists around during his youth - each making a contribution, as he himself admitted freely, and even asserted against exaggerated claims made on his own behalf - semi-legendary figures like Stump Evans, Happy Claudwell, Prince Robinson. But he also agreed when pressed that he did evolve a genuinely new style and was already playing in a manner quite different from the others. Exactly what that manner was and how it emerged and matured must be the primary task that any study of him has undertake. He and his work became classics of jazz, his influence stronger and more widespread than any but Louis Armstrong's, at least until the coming of Charlie Parker. As the late Paul Gonsalves, for twenty years Duke Ellington's featured tenor, once said, as quoted by Stanley Dance in the World of Duke Ellington:
Coleman Hawkins was my main influence. There was something in his music that coincided with Duke's that for me donated class. Apart from his musicianship, there was something about him personally - the way he held his horn, the way he dresses. I call him "the Duke Ellington of the saxophone". His style seemed more musical that that of other tenors, a kind of classic way of playing. I admired Lester Young, but Coleman Hawkins was it for me."
To see, or hear, how he was (and still is) the best, listen to three solos in a same piece: Hawk, Gonsalves, and Stan Getz in The Way You Look Tonight (Verve MGV 8225)- see how Hawk chops everybody.
"Being born blind, there was nothing for me to get used to about blindness, because it was there from the start. I didn't know, and still don't, what having sight is like, but from earliest childhood I've also been aware that there isn't such a thing as a blind world. There's a sighted world to which all blind people have to adapt and adjust. In due course, as an adult, I eventually came to the conclusion that even if I were offered the chance of sight, I would refuse it, because it would be so shattering to see everything around me that I had only known as sounds up until that point.
I'd have to go through a whole new process of education, because everything from reading or writing is entirely different. I'm used to hearing cars go by, not to seeing them flash in front of my eyes. There are things I'd love to be able to do, such as to get up from a group of friends and say, "I'll see you guys later on," and mean exactly that.
Maybe we miss a lot, but for the most part that's more than made up for by what we have to replace sight – the ability to conceptualize the world through sound, or our other senses, and the close connection with all those other people who help us get our bearings in unfamiliar surroundings, whatever they may be. Living in a world in which sound plays the most important role has always been a great stimulus to me as a musician." ~ Sir George Shearing
Just a day after my arrival to London, and while I was totally confused by the underground labyrinth of it, came the news of George Shearing's death. It was the third unfortunate occurrence in a row, all happened in less than 24 hours. After overcoming the feeling of being a Cassandra, and after getting acquainted to Tube, and while my discovery of stations and streets was accompanied by Complete Live Capitol Recordings of George Shearing, on my iPod, now I've found myself again, and here is a belated tribute to the man:
Young George with his alcoholic mother
Londoner George Shearing (born in 1919) was blind from his birth, and was a pianist from early childhood. Coming from a poor family of nine, he attended Linden Lodge School for the Blind [photo on the right] during the early 1930s. His first paid work was at a South London pub, the Mason's Arms, then played in Claude Hampton's National Institute for the Blind Band (1937). Did first solo broadcast in February 1939. Resident at the Nut House, London, from summer of 1939. Briefly in South Wales, then gigged with Stephane Grappelli before playing solo residency at the Starlight Club, London (spring 1940). Joined St Regis Hotel Quintet which was subsequently led by Harry Parry (1940), also worked at Hatchett's Club, London, with Stephane Grappelli and Dennis Moonan. I never forget the story told by Grappelli about how George lead them to their hotel room, during blackouts of night bombings of London in war days. The idea of a blind man, guiding other fellow musicians among the fog and ruins is the to the world of George Shearing music. At this stage Shearing was under the influence of Art Tatum, Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson.
Shearing with George Evans, Harry Parry then joined Ambrose's Octette from July 1941 until April 1942. Toured with Stephane Grappelli Swingtette (1943) and played night clubs, then joined Frank Weir (1944), later (1946) becoming part of Weir's two piano set-up (alongside
Ralph Sharon). Joined Harry Hayes from July to November 1946, then visited the USA for four months. Returned to Britain, again toured with Stephane Grappelli (April 1947).
On piano-accordion and piano with Frank Weir (summer 1947), then emigrated to the USA in November 1947. This geographical change caused a certain change in his music, too: Shearing who always was a swing-style player quickly adopted much of the bebop vocabulary. Though his way of playing bop has a reserved, and gentle touch. "Who needs an English Art Tatum?" says Shearing about adopting his new styles in interview with pianist Billy Taylor. And that's true. Think about hundreds of imitators who has gone with the wind and there is no trace of them anymore, especially when you're not originally an American product. Later, he added a Latin flavor to his music, which this piece could be an example of that:
Cool Mambo
In 1949, Shearing formed a quintet with a suitably soft instrumentation: vibraphone, amplified guitar, piano, bass, and drums (usually restricted to brushes). His quintet arrangements included locked-hands voicings with the vibraphonist doubling the top note and the guitar doubling the bottom. This "Shearing sound" was extraordinarily successful; it is the sound by which many fans identify him even today. “What many people didn't know about George was his courage," remembers John Levy, his bassist and manager, in an interview with Marc Myers, "in 1949, this guy had formed an integrated group with two white guys, two black guys and a white woman on stage together. Today, this might seem like so what. But back then, you just didn't do that, especially in some cities. Many people told George that he’d do better if all of his were white. He didn’t know what they were talking about. He’d get pissed and say, 'I don’t know what color they are. All I know is that they play what I like to hear and I love their intonation.' Only a few people had the nerve to come up to him and say stuff like that."
From this period Lullaby of Birdland and Conception became jazz standards. Even Miles Davis did his version of Conception, although Shearing recently complained that Miles got the bridge wrong!
From 1970s, Shearing abandoned the quintet format, thereafter worked with own trio and in duos with various double bassists as well as being featured with large orchestras. He has recorded many albums with jazz singers, including Nancy Wilson, Mel Torme, Carmen McRae, Dakota Staton, Peggy Lee, and Nat Cole.
With Nancy Wilson - On Green Dolphin Street
We know that how many critics have essential problems with easy-swinging and those pianist who have pure rhythmic/melodic approaches, like George Shearing. In one of the most famous anti-Shearing articles, Martin Williams wrote:
"What Shearing was and is doing is popularizing modern jazz to a widespread success. I am not absolutely sure that musical popularizers are a reviewer's business. They do introduce large numbers of people to a musical style—at least so I am told. But for every listener who moves on, hundreds of others stay with the popularizer; one of the originators of modern jazz, Dizzy Gillespie, had a good audience before Shearing arrived, but Shearing has a larger audience than Gillespie has or probably ever will have. In any case, popularizers always appear and are always going to appear.
However, there are popularizers and popularizers. One of Benny Goodman's functions was to spread a music that Fletcher Henderson had evolved several years before and do the same for some of Count Basic's pieces as well. Goodman contributed more than merely that, to be sure, but his treatment of Henderson's style involved no particular compromise or dilution.
I suppose that if popularizers become a constant preoccupation, a reviewer will be wasting a great deal of time. And at worst he may end up making them the objects of a kind of snobbish abuse. On the other hand, a reviewer probably should discuss
them from time to time to describe what he feels they are up to and to say how much compromise and dilution he hears in their work."
Thanks to Williams himself, who gives us the right words for it, - "snobbish abuse" - one can argue that all rock 'n rollers are popularizers of Robert Johnson, and they are audience-stealers, hence it's a waste of precious time for a critic, to take them seriously. Later he argues:
"As a pianist, Shearing is able and fluent, although as a jazzman he has occasional problems with phrasing and swing. More important, he is capable of a lot more inventiveness than he usually offers. And it seems to me that his basic compromise is to play as if he were not really emotionally involved with what he is doing, even when he allows himself to do something musical."
Well, isn't Basie that way? Looked untouched on the surface, but driving a group like the jet motor, in the moment of take off.
Beside music, Shearing's charm, humbleness and nobility rank him with the best pianists in history of jazz, like Hank Jones. One of the great pleasures of listening to his live recordings comes from his sense of humor. He has a witty introduction for almost every tune. Here is an example:
And finally, from Mosaic out-of-print boxed set, Complete Live Capitol Recordings of George Shearing, give a listen to The Nearness of You with Vibraphonist Emil Richards, guitarist Toots Thielemans, bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Percy Brice. Recorded at Hollywood Sunset Strip , 1959. It's a seminal tune that summarizes his grace, touch, swing and the way he visualized the world through sounds and tones.
The nearness of you
Sources (and Further Reading): Who's who of British jazz /John Chilton.-2nd ed. Jazz changes/ Martin Williams/ pp 279 - 281 Lullaby of Birdland/ George Shearing (written in collaboration with Alyn Shipton)/ This autobiography was published in 2004.
This song is for Cairo, but not the same Cairo we're watching now, live and moving, on our TVs. The Henry Townsend's Cairo is somewhere in Illinois, US. But from my own experience, blues is always the best form of addressing what is happening "now".
The year 2010 was a mournful year, as far as piano and last of the great pianist of golden age of jazz is concerned. First we lost Hank Jones, and now Dr. Bill Taylor.
First time I heard Billy Taylor, I was sneaking through my uncle's jazz collection. He had a personal compilation, kind of favorite traveler's mate, with a dozen track from 1954-55 Taylor/Earl May/Percy Brice sessions. Surely I fell in love with him. At that time I had two convincing reason to really dig him: 1) Practically he could play anything and anybody, from smoky ballads to up-tempo bebop pieces, from Basie-type swing manifestations to Ellington oriented tunes. 2) He reminded me of another unsung hero of jazz piano, Hank Jones. Hank is my yardstick for this instrument. Anything close to him, or feel like close to him, worth listener's attention. And of course, a sheer musical joy is always guaranteed.
Later, I returned to his early works (I wrote about it today, just before this post. Read it here) And then my expedition moved me forward to 1960s. At that point one of the best moments I had with Billy's music came with his gospely I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (1967), accompanied with bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Grady Tate.
Marc Myers in his obituary on Jazzwax defines Billy as "the jazz-musician stereotypes found in pulp fiction and film of the 1950s. He was gregarious and courtly, well-spoken and approachable—and oddly devoid of the simmering anger, anti-social behavior, bad habits and hipster persona that made the jazz life at once alluring and dangerous." Read the rest of his splendid piece, here.
Check this old post of a 1958 video of Billy Taylor, performing his own composition Early Bird with Tony Scott on clarinet, Doc Seversen on trumpet, Mundel Lowe on guitar, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, Earl May on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. More videos are available here.
Classics 1137 Billy Taylor1945-1949Release Date: 2000
Other notable musicians in this CD: Doc Cheatham, Denzil Best, Milton Hinton, Shadow Wilson. Label(s): Savoy, Prestige, H.R.S, Swing 234 Number of sessions: 6
About this period: "When I first really embraced bop, it was—I had, of course, become aware of Parker and Gillespie, prior to coming to New York, but I was very much into Tatum and that kind of thing. I used to have some knock-down, drag-out arguments with Bud Powell, because I'd run into him frequently at Minton's and other places. This was in '44. I came here in '44, and when I got here I worked with Ben Webster at the Deuces, and the whole transition was really being formalized then because this was just prior to Dizzy Gillespie opening at the Onyx with the first bop band downtown." - Billy Taylor
The Album: A good example of what Billy Taylor calls pre-bop, a period of jazz which is not really swing, nor is bebop, but it had all of the ingredients that formalized by people like Clyde Hart, Sid Catlett, Jo Jones, and others. Of course, there are more swing oriented tracks (5 to 8, for instance), or more bop playing stuff (like Paris date), but the main concept is playing a variety of sounds with a great dexterity. - E. K.
Monk’s Mood(see below for details)
Details: Billy Taylor Trio Billy Taylor (p), Al Hall (b), Jimmy Crawford (d)
New York, March 20, 1945, Savoy
S-5792 Monk’s Mood S-5793 Solace S-5794 Night And Day S-5795 Alexander’s Ragtime Band
Walter Thomas Orchestra: Doc Cheatham (t), Eddie Bareļ¬eld/Hilton Jefferson (cl,as), Walter ‘Toots’ Thomas/Teddy McRae (ts), Buddy Saffer (barsax), Billy Taylor (p), Milton Hinton (b), Specs Powell (d).
New York, June 27, 1945, Prestige
8131 -B Black Maria’s Blues 8132-B Bird Brain 8131-A Dee-Tees 8132-A Back Talk Billy Taylor: Billy Taylor (p), Ted Sturgis (b), Buford Oliver(d).
While joyously reading the detailed analysis of Bob Dylan and The Band's Basement Tapes, from the pen of Sid Griffin (Million Dollar Bash, Jawbone press), I found this histrorically important video of Dylan/Band, from their Isle of Wight appearence, on Sunday, August 31, 1969.
According to Google video's note, this amazing footage is all that we have of Dylan’s performance that day, and features the following tracks: The Weight (only The Band), I Threw It All Away, Highway 61 Revisited, One Too Many Mornings, I Pity The Poor Immigrant, Minstrel Boy (only the beginning of the song. Complete take on Self Portrait, 1970). Rumor has it that this black and white footage was shot by a friend of John Lennon’s who sat between him and Yoko at the foot of the stage. Later, Lennon damned with faint praise when asked by the press to defend Dylan’s brief performance (an hour was brief granted that the audience, though not of course John Lennon, had been sitting in the mud for three days to await it). Lennon allegedly told the Daily Express: "He gave a reasonable, albeit slightly flat, performance, but everyone was expecting Godot, a Jesus, to appear."
The video rounds off with remarkable footage of The Band live at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh in November 1970, shot in color, bur very amateurishly, for Dutch television. Songs including: Time To Kill, The Weight, This Wheel’s On Fire and Up On Cripple Creek.
By the way, recently, Neil Young under the direction of Garth Hudson made an excellent recording of This Wheel’s On Fire which can be found in the album Canadian Celebration of the Band. This Neil Young interpretation significantly came out just a week after a fire destroyed his garage and he lost many of his beloved things and archival materials.
[December 21 UPDATE]
I noticed that Neil Young's new album, Le Noise is among Rolling Stone's 30 best records of the 2010. Though I didn't really like it, it's a good news. Le Noise is composed of eight new songs and no band. Neil is, accompanying himself on guitars with maximum fuzz and electronics, manipulated by producer Daniel Lanois. Rolling Stone writer, David Fricke, gives this four stars (out of five) and writes:
"The most personal thing about Le Noise is the sense of a restless master caught in the pursuit of ideas, shaping their expression. In Love and War, Young — his creaky whisper and acoustic guitar buoyed by Lanois' watery treatments — confesses an uncertainty hard to believe in one of rock's most driven stars: "When I sing about love and war/I don't really know what I'm saying." But then the conviction comes back. He only has that one way forward, through the music: "I sang in anger, hit another bad chord/But I still try to sing about love and war." Le Noise is, ultimately, an extreme simplicity: the sound of a man who won't give up."
[Second UPDATE, same day] A funny video. Neil Young reveals that the fashion world never really understood him.
“It has to swing or seem to swing. It has to contain the element of surprise, and it has to embody the eternal search for the blues.” These are John Lewis’s words, his interpretation of what we call jazz.
This is my second compilation of jazz tunes for readers of this blog, especially those who did bear with me during the year 2010, which is now vanishing very fast.
All these tracks swing or seem to swing. They contain elements of surprise and the eternal search for the blues is always on (the volume one is still here). Yes, 2010 party is almost over and this a Christmas present. A small shot, after a 12-month long hangover.
1 Good Morning Heartache Ray Bryant
1976
From the album: Here's Ray Bryant
January 10 or 12, 1976/Pablo/New York
• Ray Bryant (p)/George Duvivier (b)/Grady Tate (d).
2 When Your Lover Has Gone Wild Bill Davis
1976
From the album: All Right, OK, You Win
January 21 or 22, 1976/Black & Blue/Paris
• Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (ts)/ Wild Bill Davis (org)/Billy Butler (g)/ Oliver Jackson (d).
3 Nails Count Basie & His Orchestra
1956
From the album: Basie in London
September 7, 1956 /Verve/Gothenburg, Sweden
• Reunald Jones (t), Thad Jones (t),Joe Newman (t),Wendall Culley (t)/ Benny Powell (tb),Henry Coker (tb),Matthew Gee (tb)/Marshall Royal (as)/ Frank Wess (as)/Frank Foster (ts)/Charlie Fowlkes (bs)/ Count Basie (p)/ Freddie Green (g)/ Eddie Jones (b)/ Sonny Payne(d).
4 I Love the Rhythm in a Riff Red Rodney
1955
From the album: Modern Music from Chicago
Probably June 20, 1955/Fantasy/New York
• Red Rodney (t, voc)/Jimmy Ford (as)/Ira Sullivan (ts)/Norman Simons (p)/Victor Sproles (b)/Roy Haynes (d)
5 Strong Man Abbey Lincoln
1957
From the album: That's Him!
October 28, 1957/Riverside/N.Y.C
• Kenny Dorham (t)/ Sonny Rollins (ts)/Paul Chambers (b)/Max Roach (d)/Abbey Lincoln (voc).
6 Kary's Trance Lee Konitz
1956
From the album: Lee Konitz Inside Hi-Fi
October 16, 1956/Atlantic/Hackensack, New Jersey
• Lee Konitz (as), Billy Bauer (g), Arnold Fishkind (b), Dick Scott (d).
7 Pennies from Heaven Big Joe Turner
1977
From the album: In the Evening
March 10, 1976/Pablo/probably New York
• Bob Smith (as)/J.D. Nicholson (P)/Herman Bennett (g), Pee Wee Crayton (g)/Winston McGregor (b)/Charles Randall (d)
8 Minha (All Mine) Bill Evans
1976
From the album: Kƶln Concert 1976
Jun 9, 1976/Gambit/Kƶln, Germany
• Bill Evans (p)/Eddie Gomez (b)/ Eliot Zigmund (d).
9 Sonny's Blues Sonny Criss
1974
From the album: Live In Italy
January 28, 1974/Fresh Sound/Bologna, Italy
• Sonny Criss (as)/Georges Arvanitas (p)/Jacki Samson (b)/Charles Saudrais (d).
10 Disappointed James Moody
1955
From the album: Hi-Fi Party
August 23 or 24, 1955/Press/New York
• Dave Burns (t)/William Shepherd (tb)/Pee Wee Moore (bs)/Jimmy Boyd (p)/ John Lathan (b)/ Clarence Johnson (d)/Eddie Jefferson (voc).
11 The Party's Over Aaron Bell
1958
From the album: After the Party's Over
June 20, 1958/RCA/New York City
• Hank Jones (p)/Aaron Bell (b)/Ed Thigpen (d).
12 Tomorrow Night Lonnie Johnson
1947
From the album: Blues & Rhythm Classics 5189
December 1947/King/Cincinnati
John Huughes (p)/Roy Coulter (b)/Lonnie Johnson (g, voc)
Remembering one of the fathers of jazz guitar,
Eddie Lang
Up to three years ago I hardly knew anything about Eddie Lang. I think it was a Reading-based guitarist who drew my attention to the man whose real name was Salvatore Massaro.
Lang was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 25 1902. His father was a violin and guitar maker and under his influence Eddie picked up a string instrument. He received tuition on violin as a kid and attended the same school with fellow fiddler Joe Venuti. The two became close friends and often worked together later on. (I have some tapes from this collaboration.)
Eddie Lang played violin with a local band and on banjo towards the end of World War I. He was already playing guitar at that time but switched between instruments until the mid-twenties. After a string of shorter engagements, Lang joined the Mound City Blue Blowers in 1924 and visited London with this group. From 1925 onwards, Lang played guitar with numerous quite different bands of all genres and sizes. In 1926 he teamed up with his buddy Joe Venuti again. The two joined Roger Wolfe Kahn's Society Band which played in a style that had little in common with the music Lang recorded under is own name. His most fascinating records were made along side blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson. However, racial segregation prevented this incredible duo from performing in public.
