Dick Wellstood has been on my mind. Maybe it's because I heard Dave Frishberg play the piano the other night at The Seasons. Frishberg was in concert singing his inimitable songs and accompanying himself, but he opened up plenty of space for piano solos. Before he became famous for performing his songs, Frishberg worked with Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Ben Webster, Jack Sheldon and Carmen McRae, among other demanding leaders. He was, and is, a versatile and idiosyncratic pianist who wraps several jazz eras into a style of his own. A couple of times on Saturday night, he pulled off stride passages that Wellstood would have appreciated.
In the mid-1940s when Wellstood was a young man working toward a career as a pianist, he was under the spell of Joe Sullivan (pictured). Sullivan (1906-1971) came from Chicago and
began recording in 1927. By 1933, he was Bing Crosby's accompanist and established as one of the brightest of the young pianists influenced by Earl Hines, James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. He in turn influenced Wellstood, who had cards printed that read, "Perhaps you can help me to meet Joe Sullivan. My name is Dick Wellstood." He distributed the cards in musicians' hangouts. Finally, the cornetist Muggsy Spanier told Wellstood where Sullivan lived. According to clarinetist Kenny Davern's account of the meeting, quoted in Edward N. Meyer's Giant Strides: The Legacy of Dick Wellstood, the pianist knocked on Sullivan's apartment door well after midnight.Soon this disheveled figure in slippers and a bathrobe comes shuffling through. Joe opens the door and says, "Yeah?" Dick says, "Hi, my name is Dick Wellstood and Muggsy Spanier said to say hello." And Joe Sullivan said, "Tell Muggsy Spanier to go f___ himself," and slammed the door right in Dick's face.
Nonetheless, Wellstood remained a steadfast admirer of Sullivan. Here is one reason, Sullivan's 1933 recording of "Gin Mill Blues."
There is little video of Wellstood performing, but this clip from a concert in Germany in 1982, five years before he died, catches him in full stride, concentration and swing.
That brought response from Dave Frishberg and another old pal of Wellstood and triggered further reminiscence about my friendship with Dick. To see that item, click here.
I am told that the first rule of survival in the weblog game is to keep the blog fresh. Soto give you useful information and avoid turning this into a mere video disc jockey operationhere is a cross-generational performance of Bud Powell's "Webb City." The older generation is represented by Phil Woods, the man in the hat, the younger by Grace Kelly, the woman in the magenta dress, and her band: Jason Palmer, trumpet; Doug Johnson, piano; Evan Gregor, bass; and Jordan Perison, drums. "Webb City" became famous in bebop circles because of a brilliant 1946 recording by Fats Navarro. Powell named the tune not after the southwest Missouri town of 10,000 but for Freddie Webster, one of the heros of pre-bop trumpet. Thanks to Ira Gitler, the fount of all bebop knowledge, for that nugget. Therewasn't that useful?
This performance took place recently at Sculler's, a jazz emporium in Boston, Massachusetts, a large city on the east coast of the United States
"Webb City" is not on Ms. Kelly's new CD, Man With the Hat, but Mr. Woods is. Here's a sign of changing times in the record business and in earning prospects for musicians: the album sells on Amazon as a digital download for $6.93, as a CD for $24.72 plus shipping. There are still lots of diehard CD lovers, but remaining one is not getting easier.
]]>Robert Brustein, theatrical critic, producer, playwright, educator; Van Cliburn, pianist, music educator; Mark di Suvero, sculptor; Donald Hall, poet; Quincy Jones, musician, music producer; Harper Lee, author; Sonny Rollins, jazz musician; Meryl Streep, actress; James Taylor, singer, songwriter; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. (Lee and Streep are unable to attend the ceremony.)
"I'm very happy that jazz, the greatest American music, is being recognized through this honor, and I'm grateful to accept this award on behalf of the gods of our music," Rollins said of the award.
Here is Sonny, feeling frisky.
The Rollins band included Masuo and Bobby Broom, guitars; Lincoln Goines, bass; and Tommy Campbell, drums.
Now that the NEA has evidently decided to dump its Jazz Masters honors, it is good to see the Medal of Arts program include one of the major improvisers of our time.
]]>What project? Go here.
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A 2006 Katy Bourne profile of the photographer on All About Jazz includes several of Hudson's photographs.
Arturo squints into the sun and explains that, late in his life, after his father's career had revived, Chico was ready to go back and play his music. He wanted to return. "But then his health took a really bad turn," Arturo says. "It became impossible. So I'm completing that trip for him." But this isn't just a personal matter, he explains. "I'm not interested in making light of the fact that Cuban politics is rife with corruption and political imprisonment. I'm also not delicate about communicating that America is a nation built on tremendous bloodshed and continuous imperialism. I don't think those are things that should be run from or ignored. They're just historical facts. Anybody who's half-awake in the world will understand the brutality of both sides. Music courses through and above all that. We need to connect, not disconnect."
Blumenfeld's lengthy article about O'Farrill's visit to his father's homeland has the flavor of a well-reported documentary. To read it, go here.
]]>Percy Heath's work before and after that solo brings to mind this Rifftides archive item about the importance of the bass line to understanding the nature of a jazz performance. The first installment of a six-part series, it contains a bonus video from the MJQ and another solo by Percy. I'm told that the Mosaic box will be out in late spring or early summer.
]]>Tune in to hear highlights of the SRJO's "Jazz Goes To the Movies" (recorded in November 2011) on the next Jazz Northwest on KPLU 88.5FM - KPLU. It's a concert of movie themes and incidental music played by the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. The concert, directed by Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman is part of the annual series presented by the SRJO. Mission Impossible, The Pink Panther, Days of Wine and Roses and other jazz from the movies is included...we'll even have some film clips (a rarity for radio!). Sunday, February 20 at 1 PM Pacific on Jazz Northwest on 88-5, KPLU and streamed live at kplu.org. Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for KPLU. The program is also available as a podcast at kplu.org.
Sorry for the short notice; I'm buried in a Modern Jazz Quartet project that I'll tell you about later.
]]>I remember him as the man who built the news department of WDSU-TV in New Orleans into a pioneer in early television news and a moderating force when the south was riven by the hatreds and tensions that accompanied the civil rights movement. By the time I joined WDSU in the 1960s, Monroe had moved on to be the Washington, DC, bureau chief for NBC, but WDSU's news operation continued in the tradition of integrity and professionalism that he established. When he came back to visit, I was privileged to get to know him.
In later years when I moved from reporting and anchoring to running news departments, Bill's example and occasional advice helped guide me. In this clip from the Emmy archives, he talks about one aspect of his early days at WDSU.
For an account of Monroe's career and contributions, see his obituary in The New Orleans Times-Picayune. This is the conclusion of his obituary in today's Washington Post:
Throughout his career, he was critical of the Federal Communications Commission's regulation of broadcast media - a first step, he said, toward abridging the constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and free press.
"The effect of government control on broadcast news is to make it bland, to inhibit it, to make it somewhat less courageous, less inclined to initiative than the print media," Mr. Monroe said in a 1980 interview. "The whole regulatory system is a monster that has done the public much more harm than good."
Let us hope that latter-day Bill Monroesif we are fortunate enough to have somecontinue to insist on preservation of that constitutional guarantee
]]>To see the PDX Jazz festival schedule, go here.
]]>Mr. Shearing's willingness to work both sides of the street vexed jazz critics, who are not an especially tolerant lot, and by the '60s he had been written off as a popularizer. In fact, though, he was something completely different, a dead-serious artist who enjoyed playing well-crafted music that was accessible to a popular audience.
To read the whole thing, go here.
As Teachout said this morning in a message, Marc Myers of JazzWax accomplished a coup when he tracked down Marjorie Hyams, the vibes player in the original Shearing quintet. She is 90 and has a great memory. To read Marc's interview with Ms. Hyams, go here.
You will find a Rifftides reflection on Shearing two exhibits down.
]]>Hoagy Carmichael captured the mood the winter moon generates. This is from his 1956 album with the Pacific Jazzmen. Art Pepper has the first chorus on alto saxophone, with muted trumpet by Don Fagerquist. Jimmy Rowles is the pianist.
Shearing, born blind, had become widely known in his native England when he moved to the United States in 1947. He was an early admirer of Bud Powell and quickly adapted to the new strain of music that came to be known as bebop. He was a fleet and inventive improviser whose brilliance was sometimes taken for granted because of his band's popular success.
Fellow musicians recognized his gift. Shearing's contemporary Dave Brubeck, told the Associated Press today, "I consider him one of the greatest musical minds I've ever been around. In the '50s, George paved the way for me and the (Modern Jazz Quartet), and even today jazz players, especially pianists, are indebted to him."
To read all of the AP's Shearing obituary, click here.
When vibraharpist Charlie Shoemake joined Shearing in 1967, the other members were guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Bob Whitlock and drummer Colin Bailey. Shoemake stayed for seven years.
"He was tough if somebody wasn't up to par," Shoemake told me today, "but if you met his standards, he couldn't do enough for you. When you go to work six, seven nights a week with a great band like that, you're going to really improve. I had great admiration for him. Harmonically, I don't think that he had any peers; he was as brilliant as anybody I ever met. His touch and his voicings and his chord substitutions on songs were from the heavens. Bill Evans, of course, was very influenced by way he used block chords. Bill very openly admitted that he'd learned a lot of that from Shearing. With George, I went from being an anonymous studio musician to someone sort of well known as a jazz vibes player. All the guys who played for him loved him."
Here is Shearing in the early 1950s with his composition "Conception," which became a jazz standard. The quintet has Don Elliott, vibes; Chuck Wayne, guitar; Denzil Best, drums; and John Levy, bass.
George Shearing, RIP.
]]>In Japan, a select few of those who maintain the country's artistic traditions or make a unique contribution to them are accorded the respect of the nation by being designated as a Living National Treasure [a considerable amount of schimolies also come with the title each year].
When it comes to composing and arranging for Jazz big bands, no one is more deserving of such consideration than Willis "Bill" Holman.However, because this country does not have such an award, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles has decided to step up on behalf of grateful Jazz fans everywhere and to bestow upon Bill the distinction of being a Living International Treasure.
The Jazz Profiles post includes a brilliant piece of perception about Holman by André Previn and an embarrassingly large selection of prose from notes I've written for Holman albums. To read the tribute and see Steve's photo montage accompanying one of Holman's recordings, go here.
For even more on Holman, see this Rifftides archive post.
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