Her sound, which at the beginning of her career was an attractive little girl voice, matured into an instrument for which the adjectives ‘ravishing’ and ‘glorious’ were invented. She had the ability to switch her tone from liquid honey to a throat-ripping rasp within a hemi-demi-semiquaver. Her expressive range across every mood and every tempo remains unmatched. Downhearted or celebratory, she never sounded less than sincere.

Excessive overclaim? Not when you’ve heard this live album recorded on June 29, 1967 at the Oakland Coliseum accompanied by the full Duke Ellington Orchestra with pianist Jimmy Jones substituting for the Duke. Impresario Norman Granz, who shaped Ella’s career, taped the concert and we hear seven selections covering emotions from poignant dejection to unfettered exuberance. You know that phrase ‘on song’? This performance defines it.

After drummer Sam Woodyard splashes every cymbal within reach, she launches her set with Scott and Satterwhite’s up-tempo The Moment of Truth, a brash piece ostensibly written to open Las Vegas acts. Her version overcomes the brashness by stoking the excitement with intense swing, her virtuosity leaving few syllables unembellished.

Edgar Sampson and Mitchell Parrish wrote Don’t Be That Way and Benny Goodman made it famous. Ella decelerates the tempo previously set on the indispensable Ella & Louis Again album she made with Louis Armstrong, and, with superhuman breath control, sustains tones for longer than any normal singer would regard as dangerous. Backed by Duke’s pugnacious brass and a driving backbeat from Woodyard, she weaves fanciful melodic variations. The audience can hardly restrain its applause before the final note.

You’ve Changed, a ballad of lost love by Carl Fischer and Bill Care, was closely associated with Billie Holiday, but Ella assumes possession of the lyric when, over the tight trio harmonies of the Ellington trombone section, she invests the lyric with fresh pathos, expertly controlling her vibrato as she unwraps her luscious contralto register.
In its time, Cole Porter must have horrified puritans with his witty ditty Let’s Do It, possibly the raunchiest of all list songs. Ella seldom sings a written note, recasting the melody over and over again in live performance, risking liberties few other singers would consider, let alone attempt. Her vocal micro-acrobatics on the phrase ‘even baby jellyfish do it’ defy death.

Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon wrote Bye, Bye Blackbird around 1926 and jazz musicians have jammed on it ever since. Ella calls it ‘one of the old tunes’ and, over five minutes of leaning behind the rhythm section’s beat, subjects the melody to an exhaustive workout through every register. She has the facility to divide even a single syllable into multiple parts, assigning to a different note to each. In the third chorus, she starts by scatting over Bob Cranshaw’s supportive bass, then winding up to an uninhibited knockdown and drag-out finale.

As Jimmy Jones caresses the keyboard for a delicate intro to Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s Alfie, Ella can be heard stage-whispering an instruction to the wings: ‘sexy lights here’. The mood is restrained and she produces an intimate ballad sheen to smooth the extremes of the melody’s choppy form (by way of an unexpected detour to You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You). When she sings “I believe in love, Alfie”, we believe her. And we believe in her.

Duke Ellington wrote In A Mellow Tone and Milt Gabler added lyrics making it, in effect, a song about a song. By the second chorus, over the band’s insistent riffs, Ella is immersed in the beat, scatting, slurring, scooping pitch and swinging ferociously reminding us of the Duke’s alto saxophone star, Johnny Hodges (Charlie Parker called him ‘Lily Pons’, at the time a well-known opera singer). She holds onto the final word ‘tone’ for a long time, like someone who’s loath to leave the party.

Eager to demonstrate she was abreast of changing fashion, Ella chooses Music To Watch The Girls Go By, a big number in the 60s written by Sid Ramin, in an arrangement that has her switching rhythms, even interpolating Happy Talk from the long-running musical, ‘South Pacific’.

In 1928, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht wrote Mack The Knife for ‘The Threepenny Opera’. During the 60s, now equipped with lyrics in English, it became a monster hit for both Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong with Ella following third. Third, maybe, but she embraced Mack and made it her own, graciously adding references to the first two performers (including a witty representation of a Satchmo growl). This version, packed with passion, bounce, regular half-step modulations and the Ellington band in rocking form, prompts Ella to discard any vestige of vocal inhibition and let rip for the concert’s big finale.

So far, so brilliant. But here’s the mystery.

Why did it take 75 years for such artistry to surface? Only recently, we’re told in Will Friedwald’s informative sleeve notes, the tape boxes were discovered languishing in the late Norman Granz’s effects. Why didn’t he release them? Were they forgotten? Did he think they weren’t up to scratch? Or did they simply get lost, lodged invisibly between a couple of Granz’s original Picasso etchings?

Whatever the reason (and it’s unlikely to be lack of quality), we’re grateful that this evidence was found to reinforce Crosby’s belief: “…Ella is the greatest”.

To which we mortals can only add the word ‘amen’.

TRACK LIST

1. The Moment Of Truth
2. Don’t Be That Way
3. You’ve Changed
4. Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)
5. Bye Bye Blackbird
6. Alfie (first Ella recording)
7. In A Mellow Tone
8. Music To Watch Girls By (first Ella recording)
9. Mack The Knife

‘The Moment of Truth – Ella At The Coliseum’ is released on 28 February 2025

The post Ella Fitzgerald – ‘The Moment of Truth – Ella At The Coliseum’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

So, for Vanguard’s first offering, the group of musicians trooping into the Masonic Temple on Brooklyn’s Clermont Avenue at the tail end of 1953 is led by trombonist Vic Dickenson, the not-yet-famous trumpeter Ruby Braff, clarinettists Ed Hall, pianist Sir Charles Thompson, guitarist Steve Jordan, bassist Walter Page and drummer Les Erskine. Together they deliver a 10-inch LP of jazz standards, Russian Lullaby, Jeepers Creepers, I Cover The Waterfront and Keeping Out Of Mischief Now plus one original, Sir Charles At Home, a brisk 12-bar blues. Everyone’s on point, Dickenson spinning lazy, but witty, epigrams, Braff responding with curling arabesques and Hall biting hard with his trademark spiky edge. Thompson, whose style hovers somewhere between bop and Basie, plays with restrained elegance.

Eleven months later, with Dickenson still in charge, Shad Collins assumes trumpet duties and Jo Jones is the chosen drummer to cut five standards and a blues for another 10-inch LP. Jones (of whom jazz writer Whitney Balliet comments in awe: ‘he plays like the wind’) is the drummer who has propelled the Basie band like no other and makes his presence felt, particularly by reuniting with Walter Page, his old Basie rhythm section colleague. Hammond, never a rabid bebop fan, encourages the band to recall the informality of their 1930s sessions. Of all the resulting laid-back tracks, You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me is a museum quality example.

Less than a year later, Hammond, not one to abandon a winning formula or ignore a receptive market, assembles Clayton, Ruby Braff, trombonist Benny Morton, tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate and an effervescent rhythm section of Jimmy Jones on piano, Steve Jordan on guitar, bassist Aaron Bell and Bobby Donaldson on drums to repeat their Columbia success for the benefit of Vanguard with a couple of standards and two originals. The two trumpets are well matched and spark each other to swap fresh phrases in a mostly amicable cutting contest.

Then Hammond organises Sir Charles Thompson’s return to the Masonic Temple to lead Emmett Berry on trumpet, Benny Morton on trombone, Earle Warren (previously leader of Basie reed section) on alto saxophone, plus Steve Jordan, Aaron Bell and drummer Osie Johnson. What promises to be a good band becomes an exceptional band with Coleman Hawkins in full form on tenor, providing a magnificent version of It’s The Talk Of The Town. The crafty Thompson even manages to sneak in an original composition called Bop This.

And so the Vanguard albums go, a series of notable mixed groups curated by Hammond, usually led by trumpet players like Ruby Braff, Buck Clayton, and Joe Newman, but, twice, pianist Sir Charles Thompson receives star billing.

Still firmly tuned into the Count Basie zeitgeist, Hammond organises three sessions in 1954, 1955 and 1957 for a couple of 12-inch albums featuring Jimmy Rushing (a.k.a: ‘Mr Five-by-Five’), the almost spherical blues shouter who achieved nation-wide fame with Basie’s band in Kansas City.

In a massive blues fest covering two dozen titles including Goin’ To Chicago (“Anybody ask you who done sung this song, tell ‘em little Jimmy Rushing’s been here and gone”) and Every Day I Have The Blues, Rushing, who likes to have the brass players blasting ffff close by his ears, is supported by swing era stalwarts like trombonists Henderson Chambers, Lawrence Brown and Vic Dickenson, reedmen Buddy Tate and Rudy Powell, pianists Sammy Price, Pete Johnson and Marlowe Morris and rhythm sections that reunited him with his old Basie bandmates, Freddie Green, Walter Page and Jo Jones.

The final Vanguard album in this collection, ‘A Night At Count Basie’s’, is recorded live at the atmospheric Harlem club owned by Basie at the time. Emmett Berry, Vic Dickenson, Marlowe Morris, Aaron Bell and drummer Bobby Donaldson appear in varying combinations and, on five of the nine tracks, they back Basie’s vocalist and blues singer Joe Williams. On Too Marvellous For Words, Marlowe Morris exchanges Hammond B3 for the piano so maestro and club boss Basie himself can sit in with the band.

Among the thrilling highlights that occur throughout this collection of nine Vanguard 10-inch and six 12-inch albums are Ruby Braff’s breath control and scrumptious lower register tone; Sir Charles Thompson‘s piano artistry; the rotund altoist Pete Brown (a favourite of Paul Desmond’s) abandoning his signature bounce jump style to attempt the more angular bebop. And hearing the magisterial Coleman Hawkins effortlessly assume charge while never permitting a decent arpeggio to escape his fingers.

There’s also a hard-swinging set led by Jo Jones with Emmett Berry plus two boppers, Bennie Green on trombone and Lucky Thompson on tenor saxophone plus Nat Pierce on piano, Freddie Green on guitar and the leader on drums. Knowledgeable readers are well aware that three members of the band are founder members of the Count Basie band’s four-piece ‘All-American Rhythm Section’. On 11 August, 1955, as the group starts rehearsing, none other than the fourth member, Count Basie, steps into the Temple to check on his alumni. Pierce, the go-to guy when Basie is unattainable or unaffordable, bows to the master and offers his piano stool for a couple of takes of Shoe Shine Boy, which, surprise, surprise, are perfectly-formed capsules of the snappiest Kansas City swing.

As we can hear, the Masonic Temple’s natural reverb neatly suited Vanguard’s single microphone policy. Thanks to masterful mastering, the music’s enormous presence has been retained by Shane Carroll and Ben Hadley. The accompanying 12 pages of sleeve notes by jazz authority Thomas W. Cunliffe provide an insightful running commentary plus photographs and full discography.

The collection (incidentally, Mosaic are planning a second collection of Vanguard jazz) was produced by Michael Cuscuna and Scott Wensel. Cuscuna was one of Mosaic’s original founding pair and this was almost his final act before he died in 2024. His loss will be deeply felt by collectors everywhere. R.I.P.

The post ‘Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The Artists

A reminder: this 11-CD collection is limited to small bands only. The Mosaic team plans to issue a further collection of big bands on V-Discs.

The musical talent on display has its own epic historical sweep. CD 1 begins with William Geary ‘Bunk’ Johnson, a trumpet player born in New Orleans in the 19^th Century. By the finish of CD 11, we hear blind pianist and influential teacher Lennie Tristano, a key figure in the cerebral cool school. At various points between the two, we encounter the reconstituted Original Dixieland Jazz Band with two of its original members and prominent leaders like Woody Herman, John Kirby and Bob Crosby, even the spectacular footwork of tap dancer, Bunny Briggs.

The stellar cast list is broad and inclusive. With apologies to those omitted, trumpet and cornet players include Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Muggsy Spanier, Yank Lawson, Joe Thomas, Roy Eldridge, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Sonny Berman, Al Killian, Charlie Shavers, Wild Bill Davison and Clark Terry.

Saxophonists include Sidney Bechet, Boomie Richman, Bud Freeman, Charlie Ventura, Herbie Fields, Georgie Auld, Flip Phillips, Don Byas, Ben Webster and Al Sears. Clarinettists includes George Lewis, Brad Gowans, Hank D’Amico, Buddy deFranco, Ernie Caceres, Pee Wee Russell, Buster Bailey, Michael ‘Peanuts’ Hucko, Aaron Sachs and Ake ‘Stan’ Hasselgard.

Among trombonists supporting the war effort were Jim Robinson, Vic Dickenson, Miff Mole, Vernon Brown, Trummy Young, Bill Harris, Lou McGarity and Jack Teagarden.

The impressive list of piano players is led by daddy of them all, James P. Johnson, followed by Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Jess Stacy, Johnny Guarnieri, Marty Napoleon, Joe Bushkin, Hazel Scott, Teddy Wilson, Arnold Ross, Dodo Marmarosa, Ralph Burns, Barbara Carroll, Clyde Hart, Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis, Lou Stein, André Previn and Lennie Tristano.

The guitar list is equally impressive: Herb Ellis, Mundell Lowe, Oscar Moore, Irving Ashby, Al Viola, Arvin Garrison, Billy Bauer, Chuck Wayne and Remo Palmieri. Distinguished bass players include Alcide ‘Slow Drag’ Pavageau, Bob Haggart, John Kirby, Trigger Alpert, Jack Lesberg, Sid Weiss, Johnny Miller, Red Callender, Chubby Jackson and Slam Stewart. And drummers include Cozy Cole, Jimmy Crawford, Specs Powell, George Wettling, Ray McKinley, Kansas Fields, Gene Krupa, Sid Catlett, Dave Tough, Lee Young and Buddy Rich.

Vibraphonists included Marjorie Hyams and Red Norvo. Bob Crosby and Eddie Condon led bands. And vocalists? How about Jimmy Rushing, Connee Boswell, Mildred Bailey, Jo Stafford, Martha Tilton, Betty Roche and Ella Fitzgerald?

The Music

The collection starts by recalling the origins of jazz and the initial tracks, I Can’t Escape From You and Snag It feature Bunk Johnson’s band live at the Stuyvesant Casino in New York City. Johnson, never the most adept jazz trumpeter, is New Orleans-born (claiming to have heard Buddy Bolden and taught Louis Armstrong). In the opinion of traditionalist zealots known as ‘Moldy Figs’, Johnson is ‘pure’ and unsullied by what they regard as the destructive commercialisation of swing music. This Moldy Fig schism affects the jazz world for decades, surfacing in Britain as the ‘trad’ v. modern movement. New Orleans’ clarinettist George Lewis makes wonderful music over the enthusiastic bass of veteran Alcide ‘Slow Drag’ Pavageau.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, first band to record jazz music, back in 1917, is recreated with a couple of original members and updated four four vintage numbers with the timeless Bobby Hackett on cornet and fine Bostonian clarinettist Brad Gowans.

Then volcanic genius erupts with Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans FeetWarmers. Bechet’s commanding soprano saxophone and Vic Dickenson’s trombone indulge in bouts of furious interplay on After You’ve Gone, V-Disc Blues, a medley and a reworking of St Louis Blues, fuelled by Wilbert Kirk’s enthusiastic drumming.

On a cold December night in 1944, the V-Disc All Stars, a group of jazz immortals that comprises trumpet players Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett and Charlie Shavers, plus trombonists Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young and Lou McGarity, reedmen Ernie Carceres, Don Byas and Nick Caiazza, pianists Johnny Guarnieri and Bill Clifton, supported by guitarists Herb Ellis, bassists Al Hall, Bob Haggart and Sid Weiss and drummers Cozy Cole and Specs Powell gather in NBC’s recording studio. In a number of jamming configurations, they cut half-a-dozen discs, each becoming a jazz classic. On the transcendental Jack Armstrong Blues, Armstrong demonstrates conclusively why he’s idolised by every jazz trumpet player alive. Teagarden, backed by McGarity and Hackett, sings and plays an exquisitely measured version of If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight. And, on the stroke of midnight, Armstrong resumes leadership for I’m Confessin’ That I Love You. Then miracles are over for the night and it’s a wrap.

When veterans of Chicago jazz congregate, jazz romantics might detect a heady whiff of bathtub gin The controlled mayhem and tough love of trumpet and cornet masters Muggsy Spanier and Wild Bill Davison, clarinettist Pee Wee Russell, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, pianists Jess Stacy and Joe Bushkin, guitarist and future bandleader Eddie Condon, bassist Pops Foster, drummer Kansas Fields and blues singer Jimmy Rushing, recall the entertainment of Prohibition patrons (although no ice dared to tinkle while Jess Stacy solos on Squeeze Me).There’s even a set from the V-Disc Bobcats led by Lt. Bob Crosby, brother of the more famous Bing.

On all battlefronts, lovelorn forces adore the honeyed tones of popular vocalist Connee Boswell (whom Ella Fitzgerald claims as an influence), lately of the Boswell Sisters, who sings both intimately and swingingly with classy backing led by trumpeter Yank Lawson, followed bytrumpet star Roy Eldridge supportingsinger Liza Morrow on some scorching tracks.

Keeping sentimentality under tight control, vocalist Jo Stafford records nine tracks with Billy Butterfield playing the prettiest intro for Blue Moon. Mildred Bailey records four tracks in duets with Teddy Wilson. Martha Tilton cuts seven sides backed by, among others, Roy Eldridge, Trummy Young, Billy Butterfield and Vernon Brown. Helen Ward (who’d worked with Benny Goodman), croons Too Marvellous For Words and I’ll Be Around, backed by vibraphonist Red Norvo with clarinettist Aaron Sachs and the tenor saxophone of Flip Phillips, warming the heart of any homesick combatant.

The Piano Players

It might have been wartime, but there’s no rationing of piano players here. They are the beating heart of this collection allowing us to compare the reigning champions with rising contenders.

Art Tatum is world champ, the universally acknowledged titan virtuoso, probably the most influential pianist in jazz. His ten coruscating solo tracks, marked with his unique brand of extravagant bravura include a brilliantly ornamented Gershwin medley and a version of 9:20 Special to astound the ears.

Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller is the heavyweight monument to overindulgence with a mean left hand. Pianist, composer and purveyor of joy, he conceals genius behind coy quips and clowning, announcing himself as “my mother’s 285 pounds of jam, jive and everything” before a delicately lacy version of his own Ain’t Misbehavin’ plus eight more songs including his serenade to cannabis sativa, If You’re A Viper. Tragically, three months after completing these recordings, Waller is dead.

Teddy Wilson achieves international fame in Benny Goodman’s trios and quartets and as accompanist on Billie Holiday’s imperishable records. Possessed of an intense swing, he combines it with restrained elegance, leading a couple of sides with trumpeter Joe Thomas, clarinettist Edmond Hall and master drummer, Big Sid Catlett in August 1943 and accompanying singer Mildred Bailey, solo, on four V-Disc tracks later in November.

Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis is a key figure responsible for igniting the early 1940’s boogie-woogie craze, gets three V-Disc sides to do his knock-out, authentic eight-to-the-bar blues.

Joe Bushkin graced Tommy Dorsey’s big band but is happier in smaller groups. In July 1948, he records with a variety of combinations including top-notch trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton and clarinettist Peanuts Hucko. Later, in October, 1948, he duets with cornetist Bobby Hackett, approaching Cole Porter and Irving Berlin songs with sensitivity, taste and delicacy.Then three young challengers. First, from Los Angeles with six songs, the young Nat ‘King’ Cole, who together with the rest of his close-knit trio, guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Johnny Miller, are stirring critical acclaim with their cool, hyper-sophisticated approach. Second, originally from Trinidad, actress and political activist Hazel Scott, who hasknocked them dead at Manhattan’s Juilliard School, cuts three captivating V-Disc sides accompanied by superstar drummer Big Sid Catlett. Piano player number three is a precocious 17-year-old deeply in thrall to Art Tatum, working with guitarist Irving Ashby and bassist Red Callender, named André Previn who donates four V-Disc tracks including an exuberant version of September In the Rain.

And More…

In 1943, John Kirby and His Orchestra (Charlie Shavers, trumpet; Buster Bailey, clarinet; George Johnson, alto saxophone; Clyde Hart, piano; John Kirby, bass; Bill Beason, drums), a precise, tight-knit and smartly drilled small band (boppers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were avid fans of their sound and routines), contributed four sides including the whip-smart Do You Savvy? and a lilting version of 9:20 Special.

In January, 1945, clarinettist and band-leader Woody Herman leads seven different combinations drawn from his big band featuring stars like trumpeters Charlie Shavers, Ray Wetzel, Pete Candoli and Sonny Berman, trombonist Bill Harris, tenor saxophonists Flip Phillips, Georgie Auld, Don Byas and Ellington’s former star soloist Ben Webster (masterful gruff solo on Mercer Ellington’s John Hardy’s Wife)and vibraphonist Margie Hyams, all boosted by the magnificently integrated rhythm team of Ralph Burns, piano; Billy Bauer, guitar; Chubby Jackson, bass and Dave Tough, drums.

In spring 1945, with the war in Europe drawing to a close, megastar drummer Gene Krupa leads two different trios, one with clarinettist Buddy deFranco and pianist Dodo Marmarosa and the other with tenor saxist Charlie Ventura and pianist George Walters, to record eight sides including a fire-breathing Wire Brush Stomp.

In late 1945, although combat is now officially over, the ever-combative trumpeter Roy Eldridge leads an octet for his Roy Meets Horn and a smouldering I’ve Found A New Baby, Ernie Carceres playing tasty clarinet and Specs Powell whipping up a storm on drums.

In October, 1945, depending on how you define ‘all-star’, a group of all-stars comprising trumpeter Charlie Shavers, trombonist Lou McGarity, clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, tenor saxophonist Al Sears, pianist Buddy Weed, guitarist Remo Palmieri, bassist Trigger Alpert and drummer Buddy Rich gathers at Columbia’s Manhattan recording studios with Ella Fitzgerald. The first number, Sy Oliver’s That’s Rich is an up-tempo romp with a brief scatcontribution from Ms Fitzgerald and rolling thunder from Rich. However, she takes full advantage of the next two songs, Green, Ruby and Stept’s I’ll Always Be In Love With You and Isham Jones and Gus Kahn’s I’ll See You In My Dreams. Depending on how you define ‘pretty exciting’, it’s pretty exciting.

Also in October 1945, Chicago tenor saxophonist and passionate Anglophile Bud Freeman visits RCA Victor studios in New York City to record four red hot tracks with trumpeter Yank Lawson, clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Buddy Weed plus Trigger Alpert on bass and Ray McKinley on drums.

1946, the first year of peace, finds blind pianist, educator and all-round influential guru, Lennie Tristano in RCA’s studio with guitarist Billy Bauer and Leonard Gaskin playing unashamed modernist versions of I Can’t Get Started and Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia. We can only wonder what faraway forces in Europe and the Pacific make of it.

In 1947 (troops remaining abroad, but in occupation rather than conflict), Bob Haggart, bass player with Bob Crosby, in association with clarinettist Peanuts Hucko, alto saxophonist Toots Mondello, trumpeter Chris Griffin and pianist Stan Freeman contribute beautifully engineered swing pieces. Same year, virtuoso clarinettist Peanuts Hucko is roped in for sessions with an octet, a sextet and a quintet.

By February 1947, the shock appearance of flatted fifths signals a jazz revolution with trumpeter Clark Terry leading a quintet playing unabashed bebop. Billies Bounce, a Charlie Parker composition, is taken slower than originally conceived, but Terry’s irrepressible humour shines through.

By 1948, modernism becomes firmly established with the cool Stan Hasselgard, a Swedish bebop clarinettist so accomplished that Benny Goodman (through genuine admiration or wanting to maintain close proximity with the competition?) hires him to work alongside in his septet. Hasselgard’s companions on his four tracks are Barbara Carroll, piano; Chuck Wayne, guitar; Clyde Lombardi, bass; Mel Zelnick, drums and vocalist Jackie Searle. Then fate deals a lousy hand: five days later, Hasselgard’s promise and talent are smashed in a car accident.

Summary (and apologies)

And that covers a few of the 223 tracks. There’s more, much more, but your reviewer apologises for omitting to mention some rip-roaring sessions (Wild Bill Davison, Eddie Condon, Betty Roche) and overlooking the contributions of platoons of lesser-known musicians (but not less talented) in this collection, all of whom selflessly volunteered their services to raise the morale of forces abroad. We’re grateful to every single one as well as the dedicated folks at Mosaic (especially producer Scott Wenzel) for compiling this epic journey that starts within touching distance of Buddy Bolden in Storyville, New Orleans and continues until the advent of bebop in Harlem, New York City.

And we’re exceptionally grateful to jazz, the music that helped to win the war.

The post ‘Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

It would appear than Cohen holds the view that, because it’s already been done or antique doesn’t mean it’s dead. This man does not ignore the elders. In fact, he raised his own standard by titling an album ‘Future Stride’.

The evening’s recital opened with a roguish intro to Adamson, Gordon and Youmans’ Time On My Hands which unfolded into a bass solo of remarkable quality, some tricksy piano conjuring with time and tempi, a succession of thunderous chords, plucked Steinway strings, a few bars of Ellington’s ‘Rockin’ In Rhythm’ and a series of deceptive endings. Then came Lion Song, Cohen’s tribute to cigar-chewing, derby-hatted, Harlem pianist Willy ‘The Lion’ Smith, lacy and delicate with intimations of stride and ragtime building to a concerted climax of chimes. Enthusiastic applause.

Lion Song was followed by a Jelly Roll Morton tango, wittily introduced, the trio’s dynamic range grabbing the Wigmore Hall’s acoustical advantages to the full and applying tension and release effectively to fuel excitement. Piece after piece, the music flowed on with complex textures, ecstatic block chord passages, emphatic single note accents, multi-note Tatum-esque flourishes and apposite quotes from the masters. Tremendous applause.

Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, a rare choice (has anyone played it since the Ellington/Strayhorn album?) was approached with visceral swing, Norris’ muscular bass glancing over Cole Porter’s My Heart Belongs To Daddy, and the Tchaikowsky motif continuing to surface in various shapes and forms over a thorough percussive workout from all three members. Momentous applause.

The trio’s range was extraordinary. A ballad that channelled Debussy, embodying tenderness but avoiding sentimentality. Norris initiating a breathtaking pizzicato bass marathon (did I hear him quote London By Night?) that morphed into a cha-cha-cha version of Tea For Two urged forward by Poole’s stinging rim shots shifting into a bravura finish from Cohen, shattering the melody into shards and effortlessly juggling them to achieve different new forms. Applause verging on hysterical.

Poole’s big moment arrived with ppp brushes whispering over a subdued piano riff, reminding us of Cohen’s skill as an accompanist. An imperceptible lightning switch to sticks led to an impression that recent Storm Bert might be revisiting Wigmore Street, shifting into a two-way conversation between Poole and Cohen that ended with all cymbals spectacularly awash. Applause moves to new level.

Trio treaded respectfully into Ellington and Strayhorn’s Satin Doll, one of those warhorses where, one would imagine, there’s not much new to say. Wrong. Cohen uncovered fresh facets and constructed an edifice of massive chordal riffs into a rip-roaring big band-type finale. Band bows off. Deafening applause.

Encore: a riot of stride filled the hall with the thrust of the relentless left hands, raising visions of dapper ticklers like Waller, Johnson and Willy Lion’ knocking out revellers at Harlem rent parties. Cohen famously lives in an apartment in Harlem and perhaps the imperishable vibe has permeated his soul. Ecstatic applause.

While a sizeable queue of younger folk in the lobby waited patiently to snap selfies with the star, the audience departed into the wintry Wigmore Street smiling, blood coursing with feel-good endorphins.

Final thought: it’s possible that Emmet Cohen has unlocked an important secret about jazz music. It doesn’t have to be introspective or impenetrable. It doesn’t need to be solemn or miserable. Good things happened in the past and it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the grand tradition. In fact, it can be uplifting and an excellent way to make contact with audiences.

The post Emmet Cohen Trio first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Four years later in 1960, Schifrin appears in New York City, tracks down Gillespie and promptly writes the striking ‘Gillespiana Suite’ for his quintet plus a sixteen-piece orchestra packed with brass and percussion. Schifrin’s intention is to celebrate Gillespie’s considerable achievements as co-parent of the bebop movement and enthusiastic aficionado of Afro-Cuban music. Gillespie is knocked out and makes sure the entire suite is recorded within a month. Critical praise is unstinting. And, coincidentally, Gillespie’s piano player Junior Mance is departing the quintet to launch his own trio and a delighted Schifrin slides comfortably onto the still warm piano stool.

Subsequently, the ‘Suite’ part of the title is dropped, but the ‘Gillespiana’ remains. Clearly, it’s financially (and probably logistically) difficult to tour abroad with the full ensemble, so Schifrin (who eventually finds fame as a distinguished TV and movie theme composer) skilfully rearranges the entire suite for a quintet. On this album, we’re fortunate to hear his rearrangement performed live on 20 November 1961 at the Falkoner Centret in Copenhagen, Denmark in the company of alto saxophonist and flautist, Leo Wright, bassist Bob Cunningham and drummer Mel Lewis.

‘Gillespiana’ comprises five sections: Prelude, Blues, Panamericana and Toccata. The energy levels are set high and the band has to replicate the rhythmic complexity of all the absent percussionists. Prelude’s medium-fast boppish theme serves as a catapult for Gillespie to unleash his up-tilted trumpet into virtuosic flights aided by Lewis’s inspiring drumming. Wright enters on fiery alto as though a couple of hell-hounds have their teeth in the seat of his trousers. Then it’s the composer’s turn to ignite the piano preceding another tutti passage. The Blues section is ushered in by Cunningham’s pizzicato and Wright, now on flute, handling the theme in unison with the muted Gillespie who then develops a series of sprightly arabesques before getting down to serious blues business with pyrotechnical flurries adding, as a coda, An English Country Garden. The baton passes to Wright, a superb and critically underrated jazz flautist who plays intense blues. Schifrin, in turn, exhibits impeccable blues credentials with stirring two-fisted piano, almost hi-jacking the evening.

Section three, Panamericana, is fully marinated in the exotic Afro-Cuban rhythms so beloved of Gillespie who prefaces his solo with an uninhibited wail followed by a series of impossibly difficult runs and Wright, back on full-throated alto, follows the leader. Then Schifrin pummels the left side of the keyboard before storming the barn with yet another stunning solo.

Gillespie kicks off the imaginative Africana section with a solo cadenza managing to sound simultaneously primitive and sophisticated before employing a mute to be joined by Wright, back on flute (with an occasional growl a la Rahsaan Roland Kirk) for the head plus solos over an insinuating rhythmic motif.
Toccata has alto and trumpet brooding darkly over a repeated fast boogie figure until Wright breaks loose with fierce cries over a rapidly-changing beat and intrepid rhythm section. Then Gillespie demonstrates his unassailable brilliance with a solo that must have left his audience stunned. And, were that not enough, Schifrin shows how locked hands can create excitement. However, the last word is left to Mel Lewis’s drums that speak volumes in an extended solo before the entire band emphatically states the final theme.

Instead of winding down, the evening winds up with a sixteen-and-a-half-minute version of Gillespie’s Kush, an atmospheric piece of exotica with minimalist harmonics inspired by his Asian tours, firmly established in the band’s repertoire, a shameless showcase for all the talents and everyone takes full advantage.

An audio wizard named Nils Winther has meticulously transferred, restored and mastered the original concert hall tapes so that we can all consider ourselves fortunate to relive such an astonishing and historic evening.

The post Dizzy Gillespie Quintet – ‘Gillespiana in Concert’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The recital’s programme followed irregular and unexpected patterns. Unfamiliar songs melded into one another unannounced, sometimes slow and bluesy, sometimes hypnotic and mantra-like, occasionally with bursts of humour. Repeated chordal patterns varied from simple, sparse and lyrical to dense and complex, always absorbing. Often, Makhathini, close to the mike, chanted long segments in Zulu studded with an impressive array of clicks. We also heard catchy riffs handled like a basketball, passed from piano to bass to drums with consummate skill. There were lilting melodies of poignant beauty, angular themes percussively attacked and angry roiling pieces with weighty rhapsodic chords full of darkness and thunder. The roots of anger became understandable when, midway during the recital, Makhathini addressed the audience and mentioned the exiles from the old South Africa. “Sound”, he declaimed, “is a kind of protest lament”.

Listening intently to Makhathini’s work at the piano and his behind-the-beat phrasing, attentive listeners might have detected a broad alliance of jazz influences: South African pianists Bheki Mseleku, Moses Molelekwa and Abdullah Ibrahim and Americans John Coltrane, Randy Weston, Thelonious Monk and even a fleeting glimpse of Dave Brubeck, especially during the more percussive moments and some unusual time signatures.

But, throughout, his work is laced with the rich heritage of Zulu music (older readers may recall that Paul Simon busted South African sanctions to record with Zulu superstars Ladysmith Black Mambazo). It could be heard in the trills, treble fill-ins and even his intimate microphone murmurs.

The highlight for your reviewer (and, judging by the enthusiastic applause, the entire audience) was Makhathini’s heartfelt homage to Abdullah Ibrahim, exquisitely played with the all the reverence due to the maestro.

For once, the standing ovation was appropriate and well-deserved

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