The world lost Cecil Payne today. He didn’t quite make it to his eighty-fifth birthday. Born on December 14, 1922, Payne was thought by many of his peers to be the greatest baritone saxophonist of the first bop generation. He anchored Dizzy Gillespie’s seminal big band from 1946 to 1949 and went on to play with dozens of leaders including James Moody, Duke Jordan, Kenny Dorham, Randy Weston, John Coltrane, Woody Herman, Tadd Dameron, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton.

Cecil Payne
Payne never got the recognition his talent should have brought him. The kindest and most considerate of men, his personality was reflected in the gentle tone with which he played even the most involved lines. Early in this century, beginning to lose his eyesight and not wishing to be a bother, he disappeared into the life of a virtual hermit in his Brooklyn home, eating little and growing weak. Concerned friends eventually arranged for meals to be taken to him and when he got his strength back saw that he had transportation to engagements with close colleagues and younger musicians. He continued playing until he went into a nursing home about a year ago. For a combination obituary and tribute go here.
This page has a selection of many of Cecil Payne’s CDs. The first album under his own name, Patterns Of Jazz (1956) is there, without a picture of the cover. Don’t overlook it. Savoy has evidently let that classic 1956 album with Kenny Dorham and Duke Jordan go out of print. It has an unforgettable version of Randy Weston’s “Saucer Eyes.” It is available from various web sites and auctions for as much as seventy-eight dollars. That makes this twenty-seven-dollar offering a bargain.

Rifftides Reader Chuck Mitchell, a veteran of print journalism and television production, writes concerning Dizzy’s Bebop Reunion.

As it happens, I was a 24 year-old associate producer on Soundstage in 1976 when this program was shot at Chicago Public Television, having been hired away from my Down Beat job by the series creator, Ken Ehrlich, who went on to greater fame as the producer of the yearly Grammy broadcasts and other shows. Ken had decamped to Hollywood from Chicago after booking this show, however. I had about a month’s worth of TV experience at the time of taping.
The idea behind the Dizzy show belonged to Ben Sidran, who had developed the concept with Ken and Diz, booked several of the artists, and provided much of the musical glue behind the scenes. I don’t recall any (or at least very many) lead sheets, so rehearsals were a process of creating arrangements on the spot and reconstructing some pretty tricky tunes from the collective memory of the players. I have a particular recollection of the effort to work out the ending of ‘Round Midnight, a vocal spotlight for Sarah Vaughan. Almost everyone took turns at the piano trying to get it exactly right. As I recall, it was the Divine One who nailed it after all. But it was over 30 years and a thousand gigs ago, so things may have gotten a little fuzzy for me.
Most importantly, Dizzy had developed a nasty cyst on his upper lip, which caused him so much pain that he could only play on the first of the two taping nights, and with great difficulty. As you might expect, he was extremely upset and disturbed about not being able to acquit himself well on his own program, not to mention apprehensive about what this condition might mean for his future as a player. We took him to the Bah’ai Temple on Lake Michigan as a way of giving him some comfort, with the bonus of a beautiful setting for the interview intended to give the viewers some historical perspective and a brief insight into Dizzy’s own personality. Upon returning for the second night’s taping, Dizzy, ever the showman, played the role of host perfectly, and we were able to intercut the two nights so that unless you know what’s going on, you might not notice.
Fortunately, Diz got the problem taken care of and returned the following year to guest on a show we did based on the life and music of the irrepressible David Amram. He played splendidly.

Had he lived, Paul Desmond would have been eighty-three years old today. Jim Hall said it best, “He would have been a great old man.”
Here’s a good way to remember Desmond–having fun with Dave Brubeck, Gene Wright and Joe Morello in 1976, fourteen months before his death.
At CKUT-FM in Montreal, the veteran broadcaster Len Dobbin played Desmond’s music today on his Dobbin’s Den. It was part of the station’s celebration of its twentieth anniversary. The program is archived. You can listen to it by going here. He kindly recommended this book to those who want to know more about Desmond.

It turns out that the exhilirating version of “Groovin’ High” that was the subject of yesterday’s post was only a sample. It came from an hour television program that, if you have enough bandwidth, you may watch in its entirety. Rifftides reader Richard Carlson again does the setup:

Now that I’ve recovered a bit from yesterday’s feast, maybe I can supply some details about the clip—and, I’m assured, more to come from that show. It’s an early Soundstage production, the PBS series that features the kind of artists they usually show us during the fund-raising “festivals”. The program was titled “Dizzy Gillespie’s Bebop Reunion,” and if you Google that title it appears commercial release may have occurred at some point. Soundstage does not offer it among its merchandise.
Each artist gets a feature and “Groovin’ High” turned out to be Moody’s. Milt Jackson also is on hand, as are Sarah Vaughan and Joe Carroll…so there is much to look forward to. Everybody is in positively peak form! There also are segments in which Diz theologizes about his spiritual life and, since it was shot in Chicago, takes us to the Baha’i temple there.
I found out about the session when Grange Rutan, Al Haig’s widow, gifted me with a DVD of it she made. Grange, dubbed Lady Haig by Dizzy, published her book about Al this year, entitled Death Of A Bebop Wife, and it sold out almost immediately. If anybody wants a copy you might write Cadence and ask for a second printing.

Grange Rutan is also in touch with Rifftides, a bit miffed about the pricing of her Haig book on the internet and happy to provide further ordering information.

I almost fainted when I saw that amazon.com was out of it but had nine reviews and a used copy they are willing to sell for $75.00 when the going rate is $28.00 plus $6.75 with Cadence Jazz Books at 315-287-2852. I have a few autographed copies at my office that I would be glad to personally sell. You could reach me by e-mail at alhaigbebop@aol.com.

Lady Haig offers a description of the segment of the show in which Gillespie, Moody, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson and Joe Carroll create a first-generation bebop scatfest:

The endorphins will really kick in when they all scat…Al laughing at the piano propelling them into a magcial and chaotic blending of bebop at it’s finest. Kenny Clarke is his elegant self and Joe Carroll is so hip.

Intrigued? You can watch the whole thing by clicking here. Don’t let the opening sequence of artsy-craftsy 1970s psychedelic jump cuts throw you. After a few minutes, things settle down.
Grange Rutan says she knows of no plan to release this as a commercial DVD. Too bad.

The Rifftides staff thanks reader Richard Carlson for alerting us to a piece of video from a 1976 television program. It gives us James Moody, Ray Brown, Al Haig and Kenny Clarke playing Dizzy Gillespie’s “Groovin’ High.” This is a rare opportunity to see Haig, one of the most influential bebop pianists. We glimpse Gillespie at the beginning of the clip, but he disappears behind Brown and doesn’t play a note. Brown’s ebullience may have been set off by what Dizzy said to him as he passed by. Note Clarke’s admiration as Brown solos.
I once introduced Moody as an alto saxophonist. He quickly said, “Tenor saxophonist. I play alto only when I have to.” The way he plays it here doesn’t sound as if he was under duress.
To view the clip, click here.

This is an important American national holiday. To those in or from the United States, the Rifftides staff sends wishes for a happy Thanksgiving. To readers around the world: we appreciate your interest, attendance and comments. Wherever you are, we hope that you have much for which to be thankful.

Having read many articles and liner notes you have written as well as Take Five, your marvelous book on the life of Paul Desmond, I had no doubt that I would enjoy your first novel, Poodie James. This was confirmed to me the day that Bill and Judy Mays, Matt Wilson, Martin Wind, Alisa Horn, and I attended your book signing in Yakima, where you read excerpts from the book. All of us bought copies of Poodie James that afternoon.
But though I knew I would enjoy the book, I was unprepared for the depth of feeling that your writing would evoke from me. I was truly touched. Your writing style is very personal, as if you are telling the story directly to me; and each character in the book immediately comes to life, possessing all the very human traits we experience in dealing with people every day. They have both the good qualities and human failings of us all.
Your book is filled with the warmth of people who feel deeply the sensitivities of others; other people who interminably sit on the fence, having difficulty deciding whether to do the right thing; and then those who have such a abiding prejudice against anyone who is different that they are blinded to any of the good things that life offers. Your description of life from that period of time in which the book is set truly calls to my mind the memories and feelings of that period of my own childhood.
Poodie James is a wonderfully compelling and touching book. I “felt it” as much as I enjoyed it – as my wife is now experiencing as I write this. Thank you for this gift. As I do anything that you write, I very much look forward to reading and enjoying your next endeavor.
Marvin Stamm
New York

Marvin Stamm, the master trumpet and fluegelhornist, lives in Westchester County, New York.

Rifftides Washington DC correspondent John Birchard writes:

Thanks for the heads-up on the program about Willis. I’ll make sure to listen to it. I also alerted several of my VOA colleagues as to its existence.

And thanks, too, for your continued attention to the systematic dismantling of VOA’s English programming on radio. Every voice helps.

Management has announced the closure of the big Delano, California, transmitting facility… and in March, one of our biggest, the short-wave site at Tangier, Morocco, built during the Reagan administration and featuring ten 500,000-watt transmitters, will be history as well. Last fall, it was the facility at Rhodes, Greece. In the past three years, we have lost 55% of our transmitting capacity, even as such “friends” as China, Russia and France have ramped up their English programming. The Board of Broadcasting Governors’ (BBG) intent is clear: if Congress won’t pass a budget that gives them the license to shut us down, they’ll do it by chipping away at our ability to be heard. By the time, our representatives wake up to the situation, it will be too late to reverse these moves. Short-wave frequencies given away are lost forever, snapped up by those who understand their value.

In an era when the leadership of the United States all but ignores culture as a diplomatic tool and downgrades the Voice Of America, an hour with Willis Conover has a sharp poignancy. Conover, the VOA’s great jazz broadcaster for more than four decades, is the subject of a program airing tonight (November 17) at 11:05 EST on WFIU, 103.7 FM, in Bloomington, Indiana and tomorrow night at 10:00 EST on Michigan’s Blue Lake Public Radio. More important to Rifftides readers around the world, the program is permanently archived for online streaming.
Host and producer David Brent Johnson has been at work on the show for months. His meticulous research, knowledgeable music selection, canny interviewing and smooth production result in a valuable document of a man who for decades was the United States’ most valuable cultural diplomat.

Willis Conover
You can hear Conover’s Coming Over: Willis Conover and Jazz at the Voice of America by going here. The page carrying the streaming player also links to several Rifftides pieces about Conover.

Sometimes comments come along considerably after the appearance of the item that inspires them. Rifftides reader Ian Russell sent a note concerning this January 28, 2006 piece about Jackie Cain.

I had a 12″ LP of Jackie and Roy performing with Charlie Ventura & his big band. What a treasure ! I listened to it many times over the years, and then somehow lost it. What I would give to have it back. One of the numbers was “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.” I’ve yet to hear anyone even come close to that great arrangement.

Mr. Russell is in luck. So is anyone else who lacks the classic 1948-49 Jackie Cain-Roy Kral recordings with Charlie Ventura and his Bop For The People band, which also included Shelly Manne, Conte Candoli and Bennie Green, among other rising stars. The music is available on CD, still exciting, still fresh.