Thanks to Rifftides reader Tyler Newcomb for sending a link to this Phil Woods video from 1968. YouTube gives almost no information about it. I gather from the ID bug in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that this was made in the studios of Norddeutscher Rundfunk in what was then East Germany. If so, given the cold war chill at the time, there must be a story about what the American musicians were doing there. The rotary valve flugelhorn player is Jimmy Owens. The trombonist appears to be Slide Hampton. The non-playing alto saxophonist sitting next to Woods is Lee Konitz, who now and then gives a knowing half smile. I have no idea who the other musicians are. And how about that song title, “And When Were Young?” That can’t be right.
YouTube‘s fact-checking process is nonexistent. It’s wonderful to have the music YouTube brings us, but If the video donor, in this case Selmer 54, doesn’t provide the information or gets it wrong, tough nuggets. If you can identify the mystery players or disclose the actual title, please send a comment (see the end of the posting) or an e-mail message (see the right-hand column).
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
The correct song title, is “And When We’re Young.” I have several versions of this piece, which the alto saxophonist dedicated to Senator Robert Kennedy following his assasination. One version, heard on the Jazz Music Yesterday CD “Stolen Moments,” is evidently a bootleg, as Kennedy is credited as its composer. See:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hvfixqygldse
Doug,
Norddeutsche Rundfunk is headquartered in Hamburg, not the former East Germnany. NDR has always supported jazz, and of course this was the period when many American musicians were living in Europe–the period of Phil Woods’ European Rhythm Machine (with the Swiss musicians George Gruntz on piano and Daniel Humair on drums and the French musician Henri Texier on bass)–so it’s not that surprising to find this group on this clip. Slide Hampton’s on-line discography has him at NDR Jazz Workshops in 1968 and 1969, with the 1968 personnel consisting of Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Gato Barbieri, Jimmy Owens, Ack van Rooyen (t, fh), Volker Kriegel (g), Joachim Kuhn (p, org) Gunter Lenz (b), Barry Altschul (d) and Aldo Romano (d). That group is on the NDR label, catalogue number 654057, playing Never Subject to Change (5/31/68, 3:50).
Brilliant playing.
Norddeutscher Rundfunk(NDR)’s studios were and still are in Hamburg in former West-Germany. The song is “And when we are young”, also recorded on the Phil Woods album “Alive and Well” (with George Gruntz, piano, Henri Texier, bass and Daniel Humair, drums)
Sorry I can’t identify the musicians on the NDR film; the drummer might be Aldo Romano from Italy, the bass player Guenter Lenz from Germany.
Phil Woods and Lee Konitz were frequently playing in Europe at that time. Woods played at the old “Café Montmartre” in Copenhagen both in the summer of 68 and 69. I guess Lee and Phil did the 4-alto album around that period, together with Pony Poindexter and Leo Wright (who then was a resident of Berlin).
Peter Bergmann
NDR was never in East Germany, it broadcasts from Hamburg. That city, and Cologne (with WDR), and Stuttgart (SWR) were major stops for visiting Americans. Isn’t 1968 at the beginning of Woods’ 4 or 5 year European sojourn? He’d be a fresh face for producers there.
German radio services have long had a deep interest in jazz, operating their own big bands since the mid-50s. Generally repertory-type orchestras, they bring in guest artists as soloists and conductor-arranger-composers, too. The musicians are staff members, which can sometimes lead to a certain “civil service jazz” attitude.
The trumpet and or fluegelhorn player left of Slide Hampton is Ack van Rooyen, the bassist Günther (Guenther) Lenz, the guitarist is the late Volker Kriegel. Can’t really tell yet who the drummer and the pianist are, or the baritone.
My Konitz discography (by M. Frohne) lists the song as “And When We’re Young,” and the recording date as May 31, 1968. The personnel listed is the same one on Ken Dryden’s post (which makes me glad, because I don’t have to type it all out myself!).
The NDR Jazzworkshop lasted from 5/27 to 5/31, with a public performance that was broadcast on the last day (although the discography gives it as a radio b’cast, not TV).
I just talked to Ack van Rooyen, who played on that session. Two more players identified: Barry Altshul is on drums and Joachim Kühn is on piano.