No sooner do I review the new Ian Carey album (see the previous exhibit) than “Nemuri Kyoshirō” pops up on YouTube with moving pictures of another installment of that Evan Francis (tenor sax)-Kasey Knudsen(alto sax) blues chase and fresh solos by Carey and pianist Adam Shulman. We get a bonus (?)—occasional shots out the window of Oakland at night.
If you are wondering about the name of that tune, Nemuri Kyoshirō is the hero of a series of novels by Renzaburo Shibata. He is described as, “a sleepy-eyed outlaw swordsman, the son of a Japanese mother and a foreign father, who was conceived during a Black Mass.
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.
Every time we play this song, Evan loves to make me tell the story of how in the movies, Kyoshiro tries to avoid fighting people (because he’s lazy) but they force him into it, and as he walks off after reluctantly killing everyone, someone shouts, “KYOOSHIROOOO!!” (my impression of which always gets a laugh).
Thanks for the multiple mentions today!