Rifftides reader Rich Juliano comments on the Jaki Byard item in the previous exhibit :
Back in 1985 Jaki was a clinician at the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland where I grew up. As an aspiring jazz pianist I was excited to attend his piano clinic but terrified when he asked for duet partners and one of my teachers volunteered me. I was so nervous I called “Stella by Starlight” in the wrong key! Nonetheless Jaki got the tune started (in the key I meant to call) and was very complimentary and gracious, commenting on my relative youth when he asked my age (18 at the time). He’s been a favorite of mine ever since. Unfortunately that was the only chance I ever had to see/hear Jaki live. My encounters with him that week remain among the highlights of my jazz listening and studies. Thanks for featuring him today!
I’m happy to tell Mr. Juliano that today I came across two YouTube clips of Byard at a jazz workshop in Berlin in 1965. In the beginning of the first one (that’s a link), he plays free with Reggie Workman on bass and Alan Dawson on drums, then works his way into what sounds to me like “I Love Being Here With You.” In the second clip, towering eminences of the piano meet when Byard and Earl Hines face one another and play “Cherry.” To borrow a phrase from Louis Armstrong, “Chops is flyin’ everywhere.”
Thanks for the links to those clips, Doug. I hope some more of those from Berlin, 1965, get posted.
I have a long history with the music of Jaki Byard. He and I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, although about a decade and a half apart. I had heard of him, but never heard him, until I saw him on the TV show from Boston of Father Norman O’Connor (“The Jazz Priest”) in the mid-50’s. I then got to know his mother (she and I worked in the same department store) and his father (he and I worked in the same bank). His father, also named John Byard and a musician himself, told me that one of his students had been Reunald Jones, the trumpet player who played that soulful solo on the original version of Basie’s “Li’l Darlin.”
I finally got to meet Jaki in the 1960’s at the Half Note in NYC, when he was playing piano with Al & Zoot. I told him about being from Worcester and knowing his mother and father, so we got off on the right foot. I subsequently saw him many times over the years, quite a few times with Mingus. Sometimes he would remember me (kindly introducing me to his wife and children at the second, “uptown” Half Note), and sometimes not (at the Jazz Workshop in Boston). A brilliant pianist, a sometimes puzzling man, but someone you’d never forget. The rhythm section of him, Mingus and Dannie Richmond was, I think, one of the greatest in the history of jazz.
(Wonderful memories. The trumpet solo on “Lil’ Darlin'” was, in fact, played by Wendell Culley, another native of Worcester. He certainly played it soufully. But he did not conceive it. At lunch one day, I learned from Neal Hefti that he wrote that solo as part of his arrangement of the song. Culley executed it beautifully and usually gets credit for it, but it was Hefti’s invention. — DR)
Right you are, as usual. I was sure that John Byard had told me it was Reunald Jones (and maybe he did), but I should have checked (especially since the CD is about 10 feet from where I’m sitting). And I’m ashamed I didn’t know that Wendell Culley came from Worcester. We’ve had our share of Worcester-area people in the jazz world – Jaki, Barbara Carroll, Frankie Capp, Don Fagerquist, and many others – but Wendell Culley’s name never came up when local musicians were mentioned. Live and learn.
I don’t know if you looked further, but the Jazz Piano Workshop, some of which was issued on a Philology LP, is available on a DVD now from Impro-Jazz. It looks like the Jazz Loft has it for $14.99, though the going rate for this label’s DVDs has been $24.99 and up elsewhere.
Thanks for the tip, Ken. Do you own this one yourself? The reason I ask is, I’ve found that Impro-Jazz DVDs are often of poor video quality (I own a few). For some reason, the clips shown on Youtube are always of much better quality than the sources Impro-Jazz uses.
I don’t own it yet but probably will take a chance on it. It seems unlikely that this concert would be a candidate for the Jazz Icons series. I agree with you about the inconsistent quality of Impro-Jazz releases, as they often seem to be a dub of a distant generation dub rather than from a video master.
I do have the entire Piano Jazz Workshop video – it was a broadcast on European TV. It is one of my favorite videos – seeing and listening to “Fatha” Hines and Jaki Byard and rare to see Lennie Tristano video, as well as Bill Evans and John Lewis…beautifully done. So very important/special to me, as I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade at the time this was recorded and much more concerned with toys and dolls…jazz didn’t enter and change my life ’til the early 70’s. Having the ability to hear and see my jazz heroes on video is a real blessing!
Thanks for all the wonderful writing – brightens up my day and makes me smile!
(And that comment makes the Rifftides staff smile.
The DVD of the 1965 Berlin Piano Jazz Workshop seems to be available in the UK at this address: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000OYCM4E/ciaouk-dvd-21/ref=nosim —
in Japan at this address :
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Berlin-Jazz-Piano-Workshop-1965/dp/B000OYCM4E
in the US at this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/VARIOUS-ARTISTS-1965-BERLIN-JAZZ-PIANO-WORKSHOP-DVD_W0QQitemZ300185586259QQcmdZViewItem — DR)
Thanks for posting my comment and I’m glad to hear the DVD is available for purchase. The quality of my copy may be better than the purchase DVD. That’s sad, because I’d love to see something with historical significance offered to the public for purchase in its best possible form.
The first time I heard of the Getz/Coltrane Dusseldorf 1960 clip availability (for viewing) was via your column and now I am just thrilled that Jazz Icons has released for purchase the best possible version of this video.
Just a few days ago, I ordered the new Michel Petrucciani documentary/video release and look forward to its arrival!
I also enjoyed Jon’s comments on Jaki Byard. I had the good fortune to hear Jaki at a small club in NYC, the Angry Squire, back in the 80’s.
Happy New Year and may we continue to have the opportunity to add more jazz audio/video gems to our collections.