Sometimes fate does not distribute her gifts based on merit. Jack Nimitz never achieved the recognition, popularity or record sales of Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams or Serge Chaloff. Nonetheless, he was fully their peer as a baritone saxophonist of the post-bop era. Nimitz died last Wedneday in Los Angeles at the age of 79. From the early 1950s in Washington, DC, with The Orchestra, through the bands of Bob Astor, Johnny Bothwell, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, Nimitz was a sturdy anchor of reed sections and a soloist of power and creativity.
After he moved to Los Angeles in the early sixties, Nimitz was a first-call baritone player in studios and on a dozen or more big bands, including those of Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson, Terry Gibbs, Oliver Nelson and Frank Capp. He was a charter member of Supersax, the saxophone band that specialized in orchestrated Charlie Parker solos. Nimitz is on scores of other peoples’ albums, but did not release a CD as a leader until 1995 with Confirmation. That recording is out of print or, as the record company’s web site optimistically announces, “temporarily out of stock.”
Fortunately, his second CD, Yesterday and Today, is available. It teamed Nimitz with another neglected master, the trombonist Bill Harris and, five decades later, with a rising young player of Nimitz’s own instrument. From a 2008 Rifftides review:
Jack Nimitz, Yesterday And Today (Fresh Sound). “Yesterday” was 1957, when the distinctive baritone saxophonist recorded a long-playing album for ABC-Paramount. The LP sat unissued for half a century. “Today” was early last year, when Nimitz went into the studio to record new music to add to the 1957 material and round out a compact disc. Nimitz’s tone has more heft and his soloing more aggressiveness than fifty years ago. In both instances, his playing is superb.
To read the whole thing go here.
Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, June 20, at the Church of the Hills, Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Los Angeles.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
I grew up in Washington, DC. Jack attended Anacostia high school with me. I remember him as a great musician but he left the DC area at a young age to carve out a great career in the music business. I always was impressed with his fantastic talent and although I haven’t seen him in almost 60 years I will always rememerthe home town boy who made good.