Several apparently unrelated observations.
POOR BUTTERFLY, its subject the abandoned heroine of Puccini’s MADAME BUTTERFLY, was an incredible popular hit in 1916.
Between 1944 and 1980, Teddy Wilson recorded POOR BUTTERFLY more than a dozen times, and I am sure he played it many more. In 1959, he told Tom Scanlan of the first handful of recordings that impressed him in early 1928; the first one he recalled was the Frank Trumbauer – Bix Beiderbecke SINGIN’ THE BLUES.
I’ve been listening to Teddy with admiration since adolescence, and I can’t recall an instance where he quotes a passage from another composition as part of his own improvisation. Other musicians do this often for a variety of reasons, but not Teddy.
Here is a wonderful miniature by Teddy; Major Holley, double bass; Bobby Rosengarden, drums, performed on June 5, 1977, in New Jersey. A lovely two-chorus rendition of the 1916 hit that Teddy had played and recorded countless times, mixing a reverent approach to the melody and graceful chord-based arpeggios.
But wait! There’s more!
At the two-minute mark, Teddy, atypically, nods explicitly to SINGIN’ THE BLUES. We cannot know why: perhaps it came out of a pre-set conversation with someone about that record? — an earnest hot-jazz fan asking, “Teddy, did you ever play with Bix?” — but I think of it as a bouquet thrown over his shoulder into the past, to an indelible work of art.
And should anyone tell you that Teddy was “on autopilot” in his later years, play them this recording:
Now, play it again. It’s a small touching marvel. Thank you, Teddy, Frank, and Bix.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 