Cats have nine lives, but Ryan Calloway is living several, vividly, all at once, without strain. I first encountered him in person four years ago, but in that time I have found so much to admire in the ease with which he balances his several selves, generously offering us surprising beauty in each one.
I have never been able to swing dance, which has only intensified my fascination with those who can. Lindy Hop remains a particular favorite, and I have watched many live and video-ed displays of that graceful athletic art. Some dancers I know and admire have partnered with Ryan at Lindy Hop championships, and here are examples of his audacious skills as well as theirs. Exhibits one and two, if it please the court:
and . . . .
I will never shimmy like my sister Kate, but I would love to move with one-tenth of that grace and power. Ah well. And in case the dates on those videos suggest that swing dance is no longer his forte, he dazzled on the floor when he stopped by at the March 2024 Jazz Bash by the Bay in Monterey.
I didn’t encounter Ryan as a deep Albert-system clarinetist until 2020, but he impressed me strongly:
Last October, at the Redwood Coast Music Festival, I recorded a performance of MY GAL SAL, featuring Ryan with Clint’s New Orleans Jazz Band, which shows off his many arts so nicely: the ensemble clarinetist, the engaging singer, the adept soloist, all in one person.
I’ve been admiring his paintings and drawings as well. Skill, passion, and that same audacity. You can see much more at his website.
Here’s Charles Ellsworth Russell, a recent evocation:
William Basie, of Red Bank, New Jersey:
Here’s his “Prof. Harkin 3-D prototype”: details here:
The King of the Savoy, William Henry Webb:
and the King of the dance floor, Frankie Manning, on a hoodie that can be purchased here.
I follow Ryan on Facebook and https://www.instagram.com/ryancallowayart/ , so I see him making art in fascinating video presentations. And more of his gorgeously quirky art — morphed into t-shirts and stickers — can be found here.
But let us loop back to the vital heartfelt music Ryan has recorded with the Silver Bell Jazz Band, still gigging and having fun.
Here’s the title track from CALL OF THE FREAKS — which so nicely evokes the weird side of the Luis Russell Orchestra, with the appropriate glee-club tribute to your local sanitation department.
And a frolicome SNAKE RAG, music for happy dancers born well after 1923.
Whatever Ryan turns his hand to comes out with feeling, personality, and depth. His spirit is surprising and expansive.
Carl Sonny Leyland, magenta-hued, thanks to atmospheric lighting:
Sonny (or Father Leyland, as those who understand, call him) led his Boogie Woogie Boys — think of Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner — at the 2023 Redwood Coast Music Festival. They were Marc Caparone, trumpet; Mando Dorame, tenor saxophone; Samuel Wolfe Rocha, double bass; Josh Collazo, drums.
Here’s TAPS MILLER, named for a dancer who appeared with Basie in the glory years:
Yesterday I wrote a post about the 2024 Redwood Coast Music Festival, a contained explosion of good things: you could read it here. TAPS MILLER is more than convincing to me, but I will share others in days to come.
Early Bird discounted tickets are on the move . . . get them before they fly out of sight.
“Art, may I present you to Commerce?” ”Oh, you’ve already met?”
Some of the most memorable jazz recordings we know for decades have their roots in popular culture, what we now call “tie-ins.” Twentieth-Century Fox created a musical comedy (note the stars in the lower rows) and had the songs published by their associated music firm. Moviegoers came out humming the tunes, bought the sheet music, heard the recordings on jukeboxes, and told their friends to go see the film. ”Song pluggers,” working for music publishers, gave bandleaders money to play their firm’s song on the radio. Art, making money, making art.
YOU DO THE DARNDEST THINGS, BABY, is a sweet creation, its melody perhaps more memorable than the lyrics (Mitchell might have been low on inspiration for “tetched in the haid,” and the rest of the bridge), but it nicely balances affection, reproach, and warning. (Trivia: three years before “damn” onscreen, three years before Haley and Garland would work in a more famous film.)
Jack Haley, trying to woo the young woman for the sake of winning the Big Game:
Charlie Barnet, September 24, 1936 (the leader’s vocal and the Bolden-inspired coda, which may have been Barnet and the arranger’s comment on the merits of the song):
Joe Sanders, September 25, 1936:
Chick Bullock, October 2, possibly with Ben Pollack, solos by Irving Fazola and Harry James:
Putney Dandridge, October 14, with Red Allen, Clyde Hart, Eddie Condon, Joe Marsala, Cozy Cole:
and February 10, 1937, the glory of Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Buck Clayton, Herschel Evans, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones, broadcasting from the Chatterbox Room of the Hotel William Penn, Pittaburgh, Pennsylvania:
Energetic YouTube searchers can also find contemporary recordings by Sterling Young, Roy Fox, and Guy Lombardo. It’s a song that deserves a revival: who do we know who could do it Swing justice?
With a few exceptions, most “films about jazz” make me crabby and restless. (Some of the notable exceptions are the Bill Crow and Jimmy Wormworth documentaries by Neal Miner, LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK AND BLUES, ALMA’S JAZZY MARRIAGE . . . and I am sure there are worthy ones I haven’t seen.) They are inaccurate or tone-deaf, melodramatic or dominated by talking heads where the music should be.
But this new one is a delight.
The new documentary about Eddie Durham, his music, his world, his family, is a spectacular rebuke to those flawed creations. It’s compact and focused; it offers new information, new sounds, and new stories. I think I saw and heard Eddie once in New York City; the OAO and I left the screening feeling as if we knew the man. And liked him, which means a great deal.
The film draws on pertinent recordings, conversations with family members, and musicians who knew and worked with him — Loren Schoenberg, Chris Flory, and James Chirillo — and also gives us the gift of a previously undocumented Durham arrangement of I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW played with style and dash by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Mr. Schoenberg. And when you look at the players in that Orchestra, no one’s thinking about Medicare. Truly inspiring.
Here’s a one-minute taste:
Let’s assume the name Eddie Durham is unfamiliar to you: possible, given the machinery that makes some musicians Stars and others, even more gifted, not so. But you’ve heard of the electric guitar, right? Listen to this:
That electric guitar, swinging, resonant, and original: that’s Eddie.
You’ve heard of Count Basie? Here’s Eddie’s composition and arrangement, TOPSY:
How about Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, Bennie Moten, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm? They all are seriously indebted to Eddie: composition, arrangements, leading, making the Kansas City groove an integral part of the Swing Era and beyond.
The film also celebrates a good father, caring husband, fine colleague. Modest, inventive, perceptive, a problem-solver who didn’t demand credit for everything he made better.
Interested in seeing this beautifully-done documentary? Nothing simpler. Free.
“WVIA and Chiaroscuro Records have announced the premiere of a new original documentary titled WHAM Re-Bop-Boom-Bam: The Swing Jazz of Eddie Durham, which will be made available to public television stations nationwide on February 1st, distributed through American Public Television (APT). The film will be broadcast on over 250 APT member stations nationwide.”
And, before you start looking on your phone to find your local American Public Television station, let us all bask in the generosity of the people who made this film, Eddie’s children and friends, the musicians who want his innovative work to be known. Click HERE and settle back to be entertained, enlightened, and educated in the most rewarding ways.
And then, you can look around for more of Eddie’s music, for it’s available and alive; also, if your temperament leads you this way, you can share the experience, as in, “Have you ever heard of Eddie Durham? No? He was a pioneer, a real trail-blazer in music. And a good person. You can watch a great film about him for free.”
I promise you a most rewarding hour with a fast-moving, lively, colorful film.
Comparisons are odious and eventually not very useful. So when you have pianists Oscar Peterson and Count Basie on the same stage, beaming respect at each other (with the assistance of Freddie Green, guitar; Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, double bass, and Skeets Marsh, drums) all you can do is marvel. As I do.
Peterson: OLD FOLKS / WE’LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN / add Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, double bass / JUST FRIENDS / I LOVE YOU / MACK THE KNIFE / add Basie [25:45] Freddie Green, and Skeets Marsh: ROYAL GARDEN BLUES / SLOW BLUES IN G / JUMPIN’ AT THE WOODSIDE //
I note that this has been posted by several other people on YouTube, but that duplication is something to celebrate. Let us make sure that everyone devoted to jazz piano and to swing has had a chance to see this interlude and admire the five heroes onstage.
The “original” Count Basie orchestra, by which I mean the 1938-40 band, was magical, a lovely family of brilliant eccentrics deeply attuned to each other. Buck, Jo, Page, Pres, Earle, Herschel, Vic, Bennie, Dicky, Shad . . . and of course Bill from Red Bank, New Jersey.
Those masters were gone to other neighborhoods by 1985, but when the Bern Jazz Festival assembled a Basie alumni concert, many of the heroes were still fervently active: Harry “Sweets” Edison, trumpet; Buddy Tate, tenor saxophone; Freddie Green, guitar, had all been settled in before 1940. Gus Johnson, drums; Eddie Jones; double bass; Benny Powell, trombone, all came later; Nat Pierce, piano, was Basie’s first-call understudy for decades.
No one at this concert imitates their predecessors or even imitates themselves, but the rollicking spirit is there, if only for an hour. And a bonus: look who introduces the band!
It’s not a perfect time machine: Sweets’ WAVE is a little out of place, but when you are Sweets Edison and it’s 1985, you get to play what you want to play for your feature. But the other choices are right in there: LET ME SEE / WAVE (Sweets) / I WANT A LITTLE GIRL (Nat) / BROADWAY / JUMPIN’ AT THE WOODSIDE (Tate) / LI’L DARLIN’ / Encore: ONE O’CLOCK JUMP //
It was nearly fifty years after the Reno Club, a few less after the Famous Door. What a blessing that this happened and that it was caught on videotape:
Thank you, Basie-heroes. Thank you, Bern Jazz Festival. May Basie be our guardian angel in the year to come. Let swing prevail throughout the land.
The RKO film KING KONG was a massive box-office hit in Spring 1933, and this Joe Robechaux swing-ecstasy was recorded a few months after, a blend of Louis and the Bennie Moten band.
It pleases me to imagine, with no real evidence, that the lovely Fay Wray, terribly proud of being associated with this film, did an RKO promotion tour that went down to New Orleans where she danced to this music. Stranger coincidences have happened.
Fast-forward to October 2023. Fay Wray is gone, as are the members of the Robechaux band; even the original models of Kong have lost their sponge-rubber parts (the metal armatures remain).
But our heroes, not a simian in the bunch, rock the stage at the Redwood Coast Music Festival with KING KONG STOMP. They are: T.J. Muller, banjo-guitar and arrangements; Clint Baker, double bass; Hal Smith, drums; Ethan Leinwand, piano; Jonathan Doyle, tenor saxophone; Jacob Zimmerman, alto saxophone; Andy Schumm, cornet.
Hot music like this would make anyone want to climb the Empire State Building. To hell with the biplanes.
This was the opening number of T.J. Muller’s Swing Seven at the Redwood Coast Music Festival, and when it was through I said to myself in delighted amazement, “That’s just perfect.”
I confess I like JIVE AT FIVE a great deal in any incarnation, but these players got inside it and illuminated it, evoking so much of the Basie world without copying the famous solos. And the tidy arrangement, full of split choruses, gave everyone space to say their piece over the splendidly trotting rhythm section.
I did find one imperfection, and candor demands that I share it with you: I would have been thrilled if it went on for fifty-seven minutes longer.
The heroes on the stand — the deep philosophers who understand “Take it easy!” and “Festina lente,” are T.J. Muller, banjo-guitar and arrangements; Clint Baker, double bass; Hal Smith, drums; Ethan Leinwand, piano; Jonathan Doyle, tenor saxophone; Jacob Zimmerman, alto saxophone; Andy Schumm, cornet.
Pertfect.
And in case someone hasn’t been tracking this band on JAZZ LIVES, here is the most extraordinary Valerie Jo Kirchhoff singing WAS THAT THE HUMAN THING TO DO? from this set. Another marvel.
More videos to come from this band and others. And for those who think ahead, the next Redwood Coast Music Festival will happen on October 3-6, 2024. “Happen” is an understatement: those who have been will know.
The Masters of Groove, officially known as The EarRegulars, are the Sunday-night jazz stock company appearing at The Ear Inn (326 Spring Street, Soho, New York City). Here, on August 13,2023, they explore and levitate the swing classic 9:20 SPECIAL, written by Earle Warren, lead alto saxophonist of the Count Basie band. The inspiring players here are Jon-Erik Kellso, Puje trumpet; Chris Flory, guitar; Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone; Pat O’Leary, double bass.
Masters.
A postscript. People assumed that “9:20” referred to the clock and had significance — not necessarily related to 420. But Earle said the format of the title was a record company error, that it was meant to be “920 SPECIAL,” with 920 the place on the AM radio dial where Count Basie’s records would be played. I don’t think he was referring to the jazz program run by Fred Robbins or by Symphony Sid, but someone knows.
Whatever it’s called, it’s gorgeous. Blessings on the Groovers. And on THE LATE LATE SHOW.
I don’t have the wall space for all these holy relics, but the word “breath-taking” is for once accurate to describe my reaction when I saw this collection on eBay.
I have to explain, however, that the bidding closed yesterday; these actual 78s have been sold. However, I thought the images were priceless, so I saved them for the JAZZ LIVES audience. That way, should you desire it, you can have a photograph made of any or all of the labels, or use the image to decorate a coffee mug, a t-shirt, or what have you. The world of products is wide beyond belief. I write this note because someone asked, “Where can I find these records on eBay?” and I had to respond that they were no longer for sale.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
The seller’s description is candid and funny:
I AM CURRENTLY LISTING THIS 1ST GROUP OF A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL 1930s-40s AUTOGRAPHED 78 RECORDS. THEY’RE FRESH OUT OF AN ESTATE. THEY ALL CAME FROM THE SAME COLLECTION. PLEASE SEE THE REST OF MY CURRENT LISTINGS FOR THE OTHER RECORDS IN THIS GROUP.
THE RECORDS ARE ALL ORIGINAL & IN THE ORIGINAL PERIOD THICK PAPER SLEEVES THEY WERE FOUND STORE IN. THE RECORDS ARE NOT CRACKED, CHIPPED, WARPED UP, MELTED, BROKEN, REPAIRED, POLISHED UP, CLEANED, MODIFIED OR REPAIRED. PLEASE NOTE: THE GROOVES ALL STILL HAVE A NICE SHINY SHEEN, BUT I HAVE NO WAY TO PLAY THE RECORDS TO SEE IF ANYTHING SKIPS. (I CANNOT OFFER A RETURN IN REFERENCE TO A RECORD SKIPPING.)
I ASSURE ALL BIDDERS THAT YOU’RE VIEWING AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL PERIOD HAND SIGNED AUTOGRAPHS. MOST ARE IN WHITE INK. THE SIGNATURES ARE NOT PRINTS, AUTO-PEN, FACSIMILE, ETC… THER’YE 100% REAL. I HOPE THESE RECORDS GO TO A GOOD COLLECTION. THEY’RE BEING OFFERED DIRECTLY FROM AN ESTATE & AS PICTURED HERE.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE: THESE ARE PRIMITIVE BRITTLE OLD SHELLAC RESIN 78RPM RECORDS. THEY WILL CRACK EASILY. DUE TO VALUE & EXTREME FRAGILITY, I CANNOT OFFER COMBINED SHIPPING FOR THIS ITEM. EACH RECORD WILL BE SHIPPED IN IT’S OWN SEPARATE BOX FOR SAFETY IN TRANSIT.
I don’t know anything more than that, but the collection includes records made c. 1938-1947. They also look well-played, which touches me: whoever chased after the musicians, white pen at the ready, valued the music in the grooves as much as the signatures. They came from an estate in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C.
And, as I have said at length elsewhere, getting an autograph requires that one’s idol share a moment, a few words, eye contact, perhaps even a smile. One is in the presence of Greatness, and one has an invaluable souvenir to prove that the encounter happened.
Into the present — selling these now is, to me, more commendable than locking them away in a glass-fronted cabinet with its own alarm system with only one person allowed to admire them. Spread the joys!
So, without further ado, as they say —
EDDIE and FATS:
COOTIE on Capitol:
Well, HI-DE-HO to you, too!
The very dear Mr. Butterfield:
Big Tea:
The one, the only Rabbit:
Chicago’s ART:
Miss Ethel Waters!:
Little Jazz:
The HAMP:
Harry CARNEY:
a double-header or a trifecta, with JIMMY JONES and LAWRENCE BROWN:
from Freeport, New York, MIFF:
The Holy Main:
Fatha!
and Mr. B.:
Peggy:
Benny, in part:
and he’s in the groove:
Ella:
Was there anyone finer?:
Artie:
The one, the only:
Gene:
Stuff:
Mr. Berry, himself:
Louis Jordan:
Mister Hackett, very jovial:
There were others, but that’s a satisfying supply of marvels for now.
Lester Young said that originality was the greatest good, that you didn’t want to be one of these:
I see and can admire many people playing and singing Lester Young’s solos verbatim — majestic feats of expertise — but I am not sure that Lester would approve of such homage. A recent recording evokes his spirit, and the spirit of the Count Basie band, with such delicate fervor, that I want to make sure that people who love Lester see and hear it.
It’s a group led by Danny Tobias, trumpet, with Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone; Rossano Sportiello, piano; Joe Plowman, string bass; Kevin Dorn, drums.
I can imagine the Basie band running through this simple line in a rehearsal or on the bandstand, and Basie saying quietly, “Fellows, easy does it . . . ” and it became the name of this composition:
The spirit of Lester, the air of Basie, in and out of the notes, within and beyond the phrases.
It isn’t heralded with drums, parades, fireworks, and headlines, but sometimes the miraculous happens. Musically, I mean.
It did two Sundays ago, May 7, 2023, at The Ear Inn (326 Spring Street, Soho, New York) when a singular version of the EarRegulars assembled in the corner that has been their stage and pulpit for about sixteen years now.
They were Danny Tobias, trumpet and Eb alto horn; Dan Block, clarinet and tenor saxophone; James Chirillo, guitar; Rob Adkins, string bass. And here’s an example of their gliding lyrical mastery: the Count Basie-associated pop tune, I’LL ALWAYS BE IN LOVE WITH YOU, written in 1929 (Bud Green, Sam H. Stept, and Herman Ruby). Did the Basie musicians play and sing it in Kansas City then? I can’t say, but it certainly enjoyed a renaissance in 1936 . . . and in 2023.
But let us consider the source material, a very pretty waltz:
It came from a pioineering sound film, with an enticing one-word title:
so I assume that musicians as well as civilians went to see the film and had the song in their minds. But when Count Basie picked it up again, perhaps seven years later, it was not to be a waltz, but a swing number for the dancers. And the Basie way — sly, understated joy through swing — lives on here:
But “the Basie way” is a beautiful paradox: taking life and art with the greatest seriousness while refusing to be perceived as doing so. Literary people will recognize Castiglione’s sprezzatura, or nonchalance . . . grooving without sweating over it, making the most difficult work appear easy. Messrs. Tobias, Block, Chirillo, and Adkins know how in their cells, and show it here. Bless them as they bless us.
More to come. And you’ve never been to the Ear Inn on a Sunday night?
P.S. as of today, May 25, I am still exiled from Facebook, thanks to a hacker. So please share this with people who will get its spirit. Thank you.
Perhaps because I have been listening to this music adoringly, obsessively, for decades, occasionally I think there will be no more surprises, no more electric shocks of delight. And then someone comes along and wonderfully proves me wrong. Without further ado, Arifa Hafiz and “Arifa’s Reefers,” led by Ewan Bleach, in performance in the Netherlands in November 2022.
ROSES OF PICARDY:
BACK IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD:
Now, a pause for breath. And for information. The band is Ewan Bleach, clarinet and saxophones; Mike Soper, trumpet; Will Scott, clarinet; Colin Good, piano; Jean-Marie Fagon, guitar; Louis Thomas, string bass. And Ms. Hafiz.
DID I REMEMBER?:
and, finally, FOOLS RUSH IN:
Now, a few words, although they are hardly necessary. That band is completely grounded in the present: they aren’t museum curators. But they have the finest swing-romp one could have, a mixture of Basie and the Commodore Music Shop, with a good deal of Teddy Wilson stirred in for warmed leavening. Arifa is passionate but not melodramatic, joyous yet exact. She loves the song: that’s clear immediately, and she gets right inside it and makes herself comfortable. And in my very brief correspondence with her, she reveals herself to be without pretense: modest, friendly, and gracious — what you hear in her voice is who she is as a person.
You can’t imagine how much my happiness has increased. And there’s a CD in the works. Bless everyone in these videos, and (to borrow from Whitney Balliett) may they prosper.
Even as jazz as an art form prides itself on “moving forward,” it’s always been affectionately retrospective, cherishing the deep past and the recent past in performance and recordings. Think of Louis bringing his mentor’s DIPPER MOUTH BLUES to the Henderson band, even though Joe Oliver was probably continuing to play it; Bix and Tram recording the ODJB’s OSTRICH WALK; Bird playing Lester’s solo on SHOE SHINE BOY. (I am indebted to Matthew Rivera for reminding me of this idea through his radio broadcast on WKCR.)
One of the most rewarding institutions to come out of jazz’s desire to both honor the past as itself and to make it new was the New York Jazz Repertory Company. Not only did the NYJRC perform at the Newport in New York jazz festival, it brought its “shows” worldwide, most often under the leadership of the brilliant Dick Hyman. I saw Louis and Bix tributes in the early Seventies, and they were electrifying; even better, the NYJRC idea was a staple of the Nice Jazz Festival, and some of the concert performances were broadcast on French television. (I’ve posted a ninety-minute tribute to Benny Goodman recently here.
Trotting through YouTube last night — the cyber-equivalent of my getting on my bicycle when I was thirteen and riding to the public library — I found two half-hour NYJRC delights, posted by others in 2015, that I hadn’t seen before. I predict that you will enjoy them also. The first is a Basie tribute, from July 12, 1978; the second, Duke, July 17, 1977.
Those expecting note-for-note recreations of recordings will be, I think, pleasantly surprised by the openness of the arrangements and the leeway given the “contemporary” soloists to play their personalities. Everything is reasonably idiomatic but there are delightful shocks here and there.
The “Basie band” here is Sweets Edison, Cat Anderson, Jimmie Maxwell, Joe Newman, trumpet; Benny Powell, Dicky Wells, John Gordon, trombone; Paul Bascomb, Paul Moen, Bob Wilber, Pepper Adams, Earle Warren, reeds; Dick Hyman, piano; Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar; Chubby Jackson, string bass; Bobby Rosengarden, drums. I count at least six venerated Basie alumni.
JUMPIN’ AT THE WOODSIDE (Paul Bascomb, Harry Edison, Benny Powell, Bob Wilber, Dick Hyman) / ONE O’CLOCK JUMP (Hyman, Paul Moen, Dicky Wells, Bascomb, Joe Newman, Hyman) / ROCK-A-BYE BASIE (Wilber, Moen, Sweets, Hyman and Chubby Jackson) / HARVARD BLUES (Bascomb, Newman, vocal) / BROADWAY (Wilber, Sweets, Hyman, Wilber, Bascomb, Pepper Adams, Powell, John Gordon, Earle Warren, Cat Anderson, Moen):
and “the Ellington band,” made up of many of the same champions, Hyman, Rosengarden, Wilber, Pepper Adams, Maxwell — with Jon Faddis, Pee Wee Erwin, Joe Newman, trumpets; Eddie Daniels, Zoot Sims, Billy Mitchell, reeds; George Duvivier, string bass, John Mosca, Billy Campbell, Earl McIntyre, trombone:
EAST ST. LOUIS-TOODLE OO (Wilber, Pepper, Daniels, Erwin) / DOUBLE CHECK STOMP (Maxwell, Wilber, Billy Campbell) / JUNGLE NIGHTS IN HARLEM (possibly John Mosca, Maxwell, Daniels) / DOCTOR E.K.E. (composition by Raymond Fol, piano; Mosca, Mitchell, Faddis, Sam Woodyard, drums) / HARLEM AIR-SHAFT (McIntyre, Faddis, Daniels, Joe Newman) / BLUE GOOSE (Wilber, Maxwell, Zoot, Mosca, Wilber) / JUMPIN’ PUNKINS (Duvivier, Pepper, Rosengarden, Hyman, Rosengarden) / CHELSEA BRIDGE (Hyman, Zoot, Hyman, McIntyre):
Honoring the originals and their creators but giving plenty of space to honor the present — a lovely balance. And if you’d rather hear the Basie Deccas and Ellington Victors, they will still be there, undamaged and pristine.
LESTER’S BLUES is a septet (often with guests) based in Gent, Belgium, and they swing like mad.
In instrumentation, they resemble the Reno Club band and they have much of the same free-wheeling joyous spirit. Basie always started with the saxophone section, so I will also: Tom Callens, tenor, alto, vocal; David Lukacs, clarinet, tenor; Hans Bossuyt, trumpet; Luk Vermeir, piano; Victor Da Costa, guitar; Sam Gersmans, string bass; Frederik Van den Berghe, drums; guests Dree Peremans, trombone; Monique ‘Mo’ Harcum, vocal.
I found their first album so delightful that I did everything but hug the disc. I distrust hyperbole, but called it “a triumph” here. Visit that post, by the way, and you can savor some delightful video evidence. Just be sure that the Depression glass is not too close to the edge of the shelf, because your castle will be rocking.
One of the pleasures of this band is that their repertoire is intelligently spacious. “Basie tributes” often fall back on familiar lines on I GOT RHYTHM, HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, the blues, and a few ballads . . . but JUMPIN’ AT THE WOODSIDE has been picked clean, and many forget that the Basie band was also playing IF I DIDN’T CARE, THE YOU AND ME THAT USED TO BE, and originals like TAXI WAR DANCE, inspirations that LESTER’S BLUES follows. They remember that Lester loved the music he heard on the radio.
Enough with the words, as they say. Some music!
Thinking about the blues idiom and Bessie — in a performance that, to me, imagines a Basie-Bessie performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938 (think FROM SPIRITUALS TO SWING). Totally evocative without raising its voice:
and the expertly frolicsome GEORGIA JUBILEE, credited to Arthur Schutt and a young man from Chicago named Benny:
Several things leap out at me: not only the immense subtlety of the soloists, but the wonderful mix of exactitude and freedom in the ensembles. And the sound! Delicious and warm, never clinical.
In addition to these two performances, the new disc, RADIO RHYTHM, offers LITTLE WHITE LIES, WHEN THE SUN SETS DOWN SOUTH, MOTEN’S SWING, ROLL ‘EM, CLIMAX RAG, I LEFT MY BABY, THAT’S ALL, and the title tune for a total of ten performances both leisurely and compact. The band is comfortably “modern,” in its grooving, but no one needs six choruses to get rolling. Readers with memories will notice associations with Jelly Roll and Mary Lou, Smack, Bechet, and Mister Five by Five in addition to Basie and Lester in a variety of periods.
And what this recording and this band remind me, with gentleness and integrity, is that classic jazz is an unbroken continuum over the last century-plus, with our heroes in contemporary times offering love to the past, while the past says, “Go on and be yourselves! We did it, and that’s why you admire us so.”
I offer as testimony to the greatness of this orchestra and of this session my chunk of enthusiastic prose — but don’t quail, it’s only a little more than six hundred words. Or you can skip to the end and purchase the music.
There are two ways to approach the Past. One is to handle it tenderly as fragile relic, ready to dissolve into dust. Thus, bands play CHANT OF THE WEED from manuscript paper, aiming to sound like a 1933 Don Redman 78 rpm record. Expertly done, it sends shivers down the spine. But for others it is like a parlor trick, an impressionist pretending to be someone else. The other approach acknowledges that our heroes were innovative, horrified at the idea of being “a repeater pencil.” LESTER’S BLUES knows the originals by heart and has taken them to heart, but they are a band with spice. They have a glorious wildness at their center of their deep love of classic jazz. They are respectful of the original arrangements – they do not destroy the cathedral to put up a shopping mall — but within the arrangements they go their own idiosyncratic joyous ways. They create devoted homages to the recorded past, but those prayers to Bluebird Records and the Famous Door are springboards for creativity, not ankle bracelets to keep living artists restricted to older conventions. And what I hear is exultant, even when melancholy andslow.
The musicians have a common love of swing. Sadly, manycontemporary players and singers keep “the pocket” or “the groove” at arm’s length, as if swing is Grandpa’s pocket watch and fob in the era of the iPhone. How sad. On the rock of this rhythm section this band could build a new swinging city on a hill. And the soloists! Bless them for their strong personalities, rooted yet playful, and celebrate them for how well they meld into vivid unity. And bless the light-hearted and sublimely effective arrangements, at once roadmaps and wind in the trees.
Each performance has its own singularity. I won’t praise the soloists, nor will I anatomize each performance or tell the history of each song – that’s your delightful homework – but these ten performances fill the room with light and joy. And more: each track is at once music and beyond music: one is a Turner landscape, another a Jacob Lawrence, a Calder, a Kandinsky.
None of this is by accident. Tom Callens told me, “We have a total of ten tracks which were chosen out of a bigger pool of songs. We chose these for their freshness, special arrangements, strong melodies, less popularly known (except ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out’ of course), or just because we have an emotional attachment to them. That’s why it’s not a concept or tribute album. It’s just us trying to play really well, having a new repertoire, a cohesive and rhythmic sound, and enjoying the ride. We recorded at the same place as earlier and this time did it using one stereo ribbon mic (in blumlein configuration), positioning ourselves around it and adjusting our positions to mix the individual volume levels. The L-R signal was fed through a state of the art dual tube microphone preamp and sent straight to two-track tape. Tracks were recorded in one go (one-takes) so there’s no editing involved.”
Just like the old days, but brand-new. Passion and exactitude; personal freedom within defined frameworks, power and airy lightness (like Jimmy Rushing on the dance floor). And it all fuses in the nicest communal way. LESTER’S BLUES feels like “a band,” spiritually: a happy group united for a communal purpose. I imagine them getting together for a celebratory meal after the session, laughing and enjoying what they have created. I am sure that Pres, Basie, Jo, Benny, Bessie, Jelly Roll, Mister Five by Five, and Charlie (Christian and Parker) are grinning their faces off. You will be, too.
Yes, music for dancers, but also music for people who pat their foot and grin while seated in front of their computer and speakers. Music for people who understand joy, recognize it, and avidly choose it.
You can find both their albums (or downloads) here.
The source: a friendly approachable silly-memorable 1937 tune, based in the appeal of adults pretending to be children (deconstruct the lyrics at your peril):
A little later on, the Basie way — slightly increased tempo, a hilarious Fats-based piano chorus, with wonderful soloing from Jack Washington and Buck Clayton, and a deliciously adult vocal (so good-humored!) by Jimmy Rushing that leads to a hot trumpet solo from Bobby Moore. And the band is rocking irresistibly in the final chorus: the finest dance music ever:
Next, Professor Wingston and his Mighty Men, George Brunis, trombone; Matty Matlock, clarinet; Joe Marsala, tenor saxophone; Conrad Lanoue, piano; Artie Shapiro, string bass; Danny Alvin, drums. Note Joe bubbling behind the vocal, where Wingy disconnects the lyrics line by line:
And a surprising instrumental version by Fats Waller and his Rhythm, jamming all the way through. Did Fats say, “I won’t sing that _____?” Anyway, the hot results are rewarding:
Is there a moral here? An aesthetic lecture on the intrinsic superiority of improvisation? No, because you could hear all four of these versions on the radio and live in 1937 (also Russ Morgan and Harry Roy) — people danced to them and enjoyed them. And there’s much to enjoy in each one. I like all four versions!
If you must muse on deeper meanings, I encourage you to begin here:
Knock, knock! Who’s there? Boo. Boo who? Oh, I’m sorry….I didn’t mean to make you cry!
Mr. Marcus Comba-Sullivan of Virginia, a loyal reader.
No, this post isn’t about cross-species jam sessions.
But the material chosen for the group improvisation in the October afternoon sunshine was Herschel Evans’ DOGGIN’ AROUND, a line on familiar chords much beloved by the 1938 Count Basie band. The wonderfully skilled musicians — a pocket orchestra with the delicacy and force of the Basie band transported decades forward — are Jon-Erik Kellso, trumpet; Matt Munisteri, guitar; Harvey Tibbs, trombone; Neal Miner, string bass. Expertly capering.
Marcus has given the paw: he approves, and we surely do.
A note from the CEO: I’m writing this thirty minutes into December 27, the end of an extended period of Judeo-Christian holidaying, and a Monday return to work. I send this swing out to you who might be feeling a thud as a return to the mundane happens . . .
John Lewis is known to many as the musical center of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and we might think of four handsome, austerely solemn men in tuxedos . . . improvising sedately on near-classical themes. But John himself was a delightfully swinging pianist — hear his work with Lester Young and this irresistible, warm improvisation on I GOT RHYTHM, which he called DELAUNAY’S DILEMMA for Charles Delaunay.
This performance comes from a May 8, 1959 trio session where John is buoyed by George Duvivier, string bass, and Connie Kay, drums. I hear Kansas City and Count Basie in John’s bell-like swinging minimalism:
There’s an immense Groove to whatever the EarRegulars play: think Louis and Basie having a good time together.
Yes, those two deities are posing for a photographer, but I imagine them grinning at the music made by the EarRegulars one Sunday afternoon, July 25, 2021 (although any EarRegulars gathering would produce the same response).
That Sunday, the EarRegulars were Jon-Erik Kellso, Puje trumpet; John Allred, trombone; James Chirillo, guitar; Neal Caine, string bass — lovingly playing Louis’ 1947 composition, SOMEDAY YOU’LL BE SORRY, which I think of as the sweetest song of reproach and revenge possible:
The EarRegulars have been appearing all summer at The Ear Out, details specified above, from 1-3:30 on Sundays. Have you been?
If you already know Percy France, don’t spend another moment reading what I’ve written. Go immediately to www.percyfrance.info — where you can hear him play, read about him (tributes by people who loved him), and learn more.
But if he’s only a name to you . . .
Perhaps because it is often mistaken for simple entertainment, jazz is oddly distinguished from other art forms by a powerful Star System. There is too much of “the greatest of all time,” which negates the broader accomplishments of many beautiful artists. But those who listen deeply know that alongside — not behind — Louis, there are Ray Nance and Bill Coleman; alongside Art Tatum there are Ellis Larkins and Jimmie Rowles, and so on, creative men and women ignored in the speeding-train chronicles of Important Artists.
With that in mind, and the joy of discovering someone “new,” here is tenor saxophonist Percy France. He may be little-known or even unknown to many. I did hear him on the radio (broadcasts by WKCR-FM, Columbia University’s station, from the West End Cafe in New York, presided over by Phil Schaap), but I never saw him in person.
But before you assume that Percy’s semi-obscurity is the result of a diluted talent, let me point out that this summer when Sonny Rollins was asked about him, his response was as enthusiastic as it could be. The excerpt that caught my eye is simple: I never could beat him. We were good friends, and I think of him as my brother.
Let that sink in.
And since you might be saying, “All right . . . praised by Sonny. What did he sound like?” here are three samples, thanks to Daniel Gould, about whom I will have more to say.
Here’s Percy, fluid, melodic, cheerfully making the over-familiar come alive:
and a different kind of groove, quietly lyrical:
France plays Fats, light-hearted and witty:
I admire honest deep research unashamedly, since often what’s passed off as information is made of cardboard. So I present to you Daniel Gould’s wonderful Percy France site — solid and ever-growing — his energetic tribute to a musician who should be cherished as more than a name in a discography: www.percyfrance.info will take you there.
Daniel has done and continues to do the great hard work of the reverent researcher: he proceeds without ideological distortion, for his sole purpose is to ensure that Percy and his music (as if one could separate the two) are not going to be forgotten. And, also quietly and without fanfare, he wants us to honor Percy as an individualist, someone “with his own voice,” not simply another “tough tenor” following well-worn paths.
To the site. What will you find there? First a biography (audio as well as print) documenting his too-brief life (1928-1992) his musical development, his associations with Sonny Rollins, Bill Doggett, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Roach, Sir Charles Thompson. Charlie Parker and Count Basie make cameo appearances as well. Then, even more beautiful, remembrances by Doggett, Bill Easley, Allen Lowe, Mike LeDonne, Sascha Feinstein, Michael Hashim, Sammy Price, Randy Sandke, Chris Flory, Scott Hamilton and others — all testifying to Percy’s qualities as musician and gentleman.
Then the treasure-box opens, revealing hours of unknown enlightenment and pleasure: a session by session listing, complete with newspaper clippings, photographs, record labels — first, Percy’s King and Blue Note record dates of 1949-1962.
The sessions continue — 1977-81, live dates featuring Percy alongside Doc Cheatham, Sammy Price, Chris Flory, Loren Schoenberg, Randy Sandke, Allen Lowe, Dick Katz, and others . . . and here Daniel has provided selections from these wonderful and wonderfully rare performances.
Finally, and most expansively, the period 1982-1990, is documented through the Leonard Gaskin Papers held at the Smithsonian — and it contains seventy-five percent of Percy’s recorded work . . . with Gaskin, Cliff Smalls, Oliver Jackson, Budd Johnson, Buddy Tate, Lance Hayward, Bill Pemberton, Major Holley, Bob Neloms, Bill Berry, Wild Bill Davis, Big John Patton, Doug Lawrence, and others. And there’s MUSIC . . . my goodness, how much music there is. I abandoned my chores for the better part of the day to listen, and I still have more to hear.
A few more words about Daniel Gould and his site. He is a clear fluent writer; his site is a pleasure to visit, and the treasures overflow. And he has a purpose: that Percy France, one of the lovely creators now no longer on the planet, shall be remembered with the attention and affection he deserves. I delight in Percy and in Daniel’s efforts.
In the name of accuracy, I must point out that TOPSY was composed by Eddie Durham and 9:20 SPECIAL (which was meant to be 920 SPECIAL in honor of the AM radio station) was written by Earle Warren — but they were both members of the Count Basie orchestra, so we associate them with William Basie of Red Bank, New Jersey.
Because of the enthusiastic response to the first posting from this session, titled simply FLOATING BRILLIANCE, I thought, “Why wait?” and here are two more performances from that happy gathering — created by Jon-Erik Kellso, Puje trumpet; Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone and trumpet; Chris Flory, guitar; Pat O’Leary, string bass.
TOPSY:
9:20 SPECIAL (catch Scott on trumpet as well as tenor!):
Of course, there’s more to come. But it also happens with real people in real time, so visit The Ear Inn at 326 Spring Street, Soho, New York City, on a Sunday from 1-3:30. I can’t be there every week, so if you wait for the videos, you will miss some marvels. I guarantee this.
I’ve written about the wonderful band, “Lester’s Blues,” led by tenor saxophonist Tom Callens, here, when they released their first recording, a few years ago. Those who play know that such swing isn’t something one learns in the first weeks of practice, but these musicians make it feel effortless . . . in the grand tradition.
But here is an hour of them in performance, lightly swinging but firmly in that 1936-40 groove: emulating but not copying. This session was aired 9th of April 2021 for the online Swing Paradise festival of Vilnius, Lithuania. The players are Frederik Van den Berghe, drums; Sam Gerstmans, string bass; Victor Da Costa, guitar; Luk Vermeir, piano; Frank Roberscheuten, clarinet / tenor saxophone; Hans Bossuyt, trumpet; Tom Callens, tenor saxophone.
And the songs — so well-chosen — are ESQUIRE BOUNCE / BROADWAY / I LEFT MY BABY / LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME / SIX CATS AND A PRINCE / ONE O’CLOCK JUMP / LITTLE WHITE LIES / TICKLE TOE / BASIE’S BOOGIE (I MAY BE WRONG) / AFTER THEATRE JUMP / JUMPIN’ AT THE WOODSIDE.
Listening to them, I am reminded that the early glorious Basie band was really a small group with extra horns added for volume and force, so that the dancers in large halls (before everything was amplified) could feel the band’s power. LESTER’S BLUES harks back to the streamlined, all-muscle Reno Club band — its essence so warmly and happily captured here:
I hear that this band — so right, so swinging — is making a second recording. You’ll learn of it here. For now, let your day and night be guided by this easy rocking motion. What a group!
JAZZ LIVES 