HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BENT PERSSON!

November 2014, Bent Persson (right) and a humble admirer at the Whitley Bay Jazz Party. Photo by Andrew Wittenborn.

BENT PERSSON is a true hero of mine, and I know I have company around the world. I think of his friendly kind enthusiasm in person — he is ready to laugh at the world’s absurdities — and the soaring trumpet player, at once exact and passionate, who makes Louis and his world come alive in the brightest ways.

I first met Bent in the way that we used to find our heroes in the pre-internet era, sonically. In the middle Seventies, I was passionately collecting records. That meant that I would spend the day in New York City visiting record stores, coming home when I had used up my money. I prowled through Happy Tunes One and Two, Dayton’s, and J&R Records near City Hall, where I spotted a record on a label I hadn’t heard of before (“Kenneth Records”) featuring Bent Persson (someone new) playing his orchestral versions of the Louis Armstrong 50 Hot Choruses book published in Chicago, 1927. Perhaps it was $6.99, the price of two DJ copies or cutouts, but I took the risk. It was electrifying, joyous, and hot beyond my wildest expectations. Here’s what it sounded like.

HIGH SOCIETY, in duet with pianist Ulf Johansson Werre (1977):

I kept on buying every record (then CD) on which he appeared, and he visited the US now and again — although I wasn’t at liberty to meet him — to make sublime hot music, some of it captured in videos from the Manassas Jazz Festival.

CHINATOWN, with Kenny Davern, Jim Dapogny, Tomas Ornberg, and Steve Jordan (1988):

and duets with Jim Dapogny, CHICAGO BREAKDOWN and BLACK BOTTOM STOMP (1985):

At some point, I had acquired a computer and an email account, and was writing for THE MISSISSIPPI RAG, so I remember starting a correspondence with Bent — admiring and curious on my part, friendly and gracious on his. In the intervening years of record collecting, I understood that Bent was a Renaissance man of hot trumpet (and cornet): yes, Louis, but also Bix, Red, Cootie, and others, and no mere copyist, but a great understander and emulator, always himself while letting the light of his heroes shine through him. A great scholar as well, although that might be too obvious to write.

Finally the circumstances of my life changed so that I could fly — literally and figuratively — and in 2009 I made my way to the Whitley Bay Jazz Party, which I attended every year until 2016, video camera at the ready, approaching my heroes, shyly beaming love and gratitude at them. Bent knew me slightly from our correspondence, but I recall coming up to him, introducing myself, hugging him, and saying that he had been a hero of mine for decades. He took it all with good grace.

I created more than a hundred videos of Bent in that series of delightful parties, and I will share only four: you can find the rest on YouTube with a little earnest searching.

CLEMENTINE with Norman Field, Spats Langham, Frans Sjostrom (2009):

DUSK with Frans and Jacob Ullberger (2009):

LOOKIN’ GOOD BUT FEELIN’ BAD with the Red Hot Reedwarmers (2009):

and for an incendiary closer, DING DONG DADDY with Enrico Tomasso, Spats Langham, Kristoffer Kompen, and other luminaries (2015):

Please don’t let the apparent historical nature of these videos fool you into thinking that Bent has hung up his horns and dumped his valve oil into the trash.

He is still performing, and there were gigs with BENTS JAZZ COCKTAIL as recently as mid-August (what a well-dressed crew!) Visit Bent’s Facebook page for the most current news of his schedule.

This is the most fragmentary celebration of Bent, a man devoted to his art but also a first-rate human being who beams when he talks about the family he adores. If he is new to you, I hope you have been as uplifted and electrified by his music presented here as I have been for almost fifty years. If he is a shining light to you, here is another occasion to thank him for being and sustaining the glories of jazz.

It is, although across too many miles, another hug, so well-deserved.

May your happiness increase!

THREE MINUTES WITH MR. LANGHAM, MR. BOWLLY, and FRIENDS: ENRICO TOMASSO, NORMAN FIELD, JENS LINDGREN, EMMA FISK, MARTIN LITTON, MANU HAGMANN, RICHARD PITE (Whitley Bay, October 27, 2012)

Thomas “Spats” Langham by George Coupe

We live in an age of plenitude — for the fortunate entitled ones. I’m not even speaking of commodities we can buy online. I speak of the art we love. There’s more music on YouTube than one could absorb in ten lifetimes; it comes at us through download and streaming and twenty-five track compact discs. So I think we understandably might be both jaded and dazed by the proliferation.

I almost titled this post CHEW SLOWLY, because a story from the past kept nudging itself to the surface. Years ago, a friend of my then-family was a meticulous cook. She had worked many hours one day to perfect some dishes, and proudly served it to her husband and children, who inhaled the results in minutes. “I could have served them hot dogs and they would have been just as happy.”

It made me think of the many audiences I’ve been a part of, where one marvel after another is created for us — magic! the result of how many hundred-thousand hours of practice and experience, and we are just waiting for the next tune, the next hors d’oeuvre to be served.

This is especially true of audiences at jazz parties and festivals, who might hear eight hours of live improvisation in a day — fifty or sixty performances at least? — then shout MORE! MORE! at the end of the evening. What, I wonder, do they and we actually hear?

I think of the jazz fan of 1938 who bought one record a week and had that six minutes of art to study . . . unlike us.

Today, with the Swing Era love song GOT A DATE WITH AN ANGEL in my head, I wandered past this performance: I was in the audience; I had my video camera — double blessings, I think now. The performance is only three minutes, and perhaps to the very elegantly gifted artists on the stand it was only tune six out of eight in the Bowlly set: I can’t know. Those artists, not incidentally, are Thomas “Spats” Langham, guitar and vocal; Enrico Tomasso, trumpet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Norman Field, reeds; Emma Fisk, violin; Martin Litton, piano; Manu Hagmann, string bass; Richard Pite, drums.

But what they create, with no fuss, is just magnificent: a light-hearted blending of New York and London, as if Al Bowlly had been wooed by John Hammond into making records with Teddy Wilson and his colleagues — a true marriage of sweet and hot, with Martin Littton’s chimes, Spats’ sweet evocation and closing guitar arpeggio all included at no extra charge. V. fetching.

I wonder why the audience wasn’t on its feet, cheering. But we can make up for that now, at home:

The alternate title for this post is SLOW DOWN FOR BEAUTY. It won’t always be around, nor will we. So let us appreciate it, deeply and in a leisurely way, while we are able to.

May your happiness increase!

MAKING CONNECTIONS, 2010 and 2019, WITH THE HELP OF NORMAN FIELD

I spent much of the morning hooking up a new computer setup: my laptop and my neck have a tumultuous relationship, so I prefer a desktop computer, a large monitor, and all the trimmings.  That means a good deal of crawling around under a table, plugging wires in to the wall and in to the back of the computer (Swift’s phrase “Leaping and Creeping” came frequently to mind).  The image below is an exaggeration, but most readers know the feeling, even if they wouldn’t wear those shoes:

I succeeded,without banging my head on the underside of the table of cursing: a double victory.

As a reward to myself for all that technological-dancing, even though it was primarily on all fours, I decided that the first thing I should do on this computer, after being allowed access to my own life, would be to share some music — appropriately a song celebrating a new hot dance, the SHIM-ME-SHA-WABBLE.

Since technology, going all the way back to cylinder recordings, has blessed us with the power to make the past and present dance on into the future, here is a performance from July 11, 2010, at what was then the International Jazz Festival at Whitley Bay, featuring Norman Field, clarinet; Nick Ward, drums; Andy Woon, trumpet; Paul Munnery, trombone; Frans Sjostrom, bass sax; Jacob Ullberger, guitar / banjo:

Fewer than 400 jazz-hot fanciers have viewed this video in nearly a decade, so this post is my effort to share joy with more people.  Keep dancing, everyone, wherever you can.

May your happiness increase!

“AFTER YOU’VE GONE”: BEN COHEN’S HOT SEVEN at BUDE, 2000

Ben Cohen Hot 7 at Bude 1998, courtesy of Alex Revell. L-R: Nick Ward, Terry McGrath, Alex Revell, Mick Clift, Ben Cohen, Geoff Over, Jon Penn.

I came very late to this particular party, but happily the party still rocks on in cyberspace.  Let me explain.  The searing yet also lyrical cornet player, singer, and bandleader Ben Cohen moved to another neighborhood in 2002, when he was 73.  I didn’t take notice of his work until last year, when I heard him on a record featuring the late clarinetist Pierre Atlan, which also starred Humphrey Lyttelton — but one side of the disc was a 1987 session showcasing Ben, whose KNEE DROPS astonished me with its hot fluency and mastery.  I regret that I can’t share this music, but the record is on eBay, like so much else (including two CDs featuring Ben, posthumously).

I contented myself with playing the record many times, then browsing through my shelves, where I found him appearing with Jean Francois Bonnel and Wally Fawkes, among other luminaries.  I looked in Tom Lord’s discography and found that Ben had recorded widely from 1950 to 2000, a very long time to be in one’s prime.

And there the matter would have remained, were it not for the gracious fellow who calls himself JazzVideoMike on YouTube — the link will lead you to his channel, where you will find yourself enchanted.  In real life, he answers to Mike Stevens.

I asked Mike to tell me something of his involvement with Ben, and Mike graciously wrote:

Ben Cohen played in Brian White’s Magna Jazz Band for many years right up to his passing. The Magna played weekly and from about 1990 I went weekly and got to know Ben. I started videoing jazz when I went to the French Quarter Festival in 1995 and bought my first camcorder on Canal Street. I then started going to the Bude and Keswick UK jazz festivals and making videos whenever possible, which I have continued right up to now.

I met Ben at these festivals and found that his style of playing with his Hot 5 & 7 was much more to my taste than his style with the Magna band. His early Louis style playing caused quite a stir, and admiration from many musicians. After 2000 Ben suffered several strokes, but he refused to stop playing and it was a more serious stroke which eventually brought him down.

Ben was a lovely man and greatly admired by many. [Sarah Spencer, below, says that Kenny Davern loved Ben.]  Brian White still says he was the best trumpeter he ever had in his bands. Ben and Alex Revell were the front line along with Chris Barber in his amateur band before Chris made it a full time professional band. Ben was an engineer with his own business and remained a part time musician throughout his career. Alex was a also a noted engineer and designer, and they played together again in Ben’s Hot 5 & 7. Jon Penn was the pianist, and Nick Ward the drummer, both now at Whitley Bay every year.

And here is Mike’s splendid video (let us praise the man behind the camera!) of a ninety-minute plus live session at the Bude Jazz Festival:

Now for a rare treat – a new Ben Cohen Hot Five Seven concert never before published – Launched in 1993, Ben’s Hot Five caused an immediate sensation at the Bude festival that year, since when they have starred at major festivals all over the country. 1994 saw the launch of an even more exciting Hot Seven. Ben Cohen, hailed by Humphrey Lyttleton as today’s finest trumpeter in the “early Louis” style, leads Alex Revell (clarinet), Mick Clift (trombone), Jon Penn (piano), Geoff Over (banjo), and they are joined in the Hot Seven by Terry McGarth (sousaphone), and Nick Ward (drums) with special guest Norman Field (reeds).

Ben Cohen is one of the legendary backroom boys of British Traditional Jazz. He first came to notice in Chris Barber’s amateur band in 1950. He based his style on that of early Louis Armstrong and over the years developed a reputation as a powerful lead player in any band he was in. He stuck religiously to playing the cornet rather than the trumpet and was only ever semi-professional throughout his career. Ben was a popular figure on the UK Jazz scene and for many years led his Armstrong inspired Hot 5.

A brief guided tour: YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU (Ben, vocal); PAPA DIP; GULLY LOW BLUES (Ben, vocal); EAST COAST TROT (featuring Alex and Norman); NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU (Alex, vocal); TAKE YOUR PICK (featuring   Geoff Over); an interlude where the band removed their jackets; MABEL’S DREAM; WEARY BLUES; SOME OF THESE DAYS (Ben, vocal); WILLIE THE WEEPER (Geoff Cole, vocal); I CAN’T SAY (Alex and Norman); ONCE IN A WHILE; ROCKIN’ CHAIR (Ben, vocal); BIG FAT MA AND SKINNY PA (Alex, vocal); KNEE DROPS; AFTER YOU’VE GONE (closing theme).

The band is marvelous.  But I keep returning to Ben, who is — in the words of his friend and bandmate Sarah Spencer — “hot as heck.”

I am sorry that I never got to hear him in person, and — even more — tell him how much his music moves me.  But here is evidence of gorgeous nimble heat in the best Louis manner.  Thank you, Ben Cohen.

May your happiness increase!

PARADISE FOR STRINGS: MARTIN WHEATLEY’S IMAGINATIVE WORLDS

Photograph by Andrew Wittenborn, 2015

I know Martin Wheatley as an astonishingly talented player of the guitar, banjo, electric guitar, ukulele.  I’ve heard him on a variety of recordings as a wonderful rhythm player and striking soloist, and had the good fortune to see him in person at the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party (now the Mike Durham Classic Jazz Party) from 2009 to 2015.

One facet of his talent is as a virtuosic ukulele player (and arranger for that instrument): a 2010 solo performance of THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER:

Here’s Martin on electric guitar from the November 2015 Party in a salute to Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five, with Lars Frank, Martin Litton, Enrico Tomasso, Richard Pite, Henry Lemaire:

From that same weekend, here are Emma Fisk, Spats Langham, Henry Lemaire, and Martin doing their own evocation of the Quintette of the Hot Club of France on J’ATTENDRAI:

Here’s Martin on banjo in 2010 with the Chalumeau Serenaders — Matthias Seuffert, Norman Field, Nick Ward, Keith Nichols, Malcolm Sked — performing A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY:

And there’s more.  But the point of this blogpost is to let you know that Martin has made a truly imaginative CD under his own name, called LUCKY STAR — a musical sample below:

Martin says of LUCKY STAR, “Quite a mixture of things, lots of my own compositions and some standards.  Some solos –  plenty of overdub extravaganzas.  All me apart from Tom Wheatley (one of Martin’s sons) on bass.”

Solo efforts that have a good deal of overdubbing might suffer from sameness, because of the strength of the soloist’s personality, but not this CD: Martin is seriously and playfully imaginative.  And when you open the disc and read the instruments he plays, you know the disc is expansive, not constricted: guitar, tenor guitar, Hawaiian guitar, lap steel guitar, soprano / tenor / baritone ukulele; tenor / five-string / fretless banjo; moonlute, mandolin, octophone, percussion, keyboard, vocals.

The five standards are IF DREAMS COME TRUE, ALL GOD’S CHILLUN GOT RHYTHM, YOU ARE MY LUCKY STAR, MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE, and MY SWEET.  I couldn’t tell absolutely which instruments Martin is playing on any track, but I can say that DREAMS sounds like a one-man Spirits of Rhythm, with a swinging bass interlude by Tom after Martin’s absolutely charming vocal (think Bowlly crossed with McKenzie, Decca sunburst edition); CHILLUN is Pizzarelli-style with more of the same swing crooning intermingled with virtuosic playing — but no notes are smudged or harmed, and there’s a cameo for Hawaiian guitar at a rocking tempo.  LUCKY STAR begins with harp-like ukulele chords and Martin picks up the never-heard verse, turning the corner into the sweet chorus in the most light-hearted sincere way, and MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE follows — a quiet instrumental masterpiece, a hymn to secular devotion. MY SWEET — beloved of Louis and Django — begins with serene chiming notes picking out the melody delicately and then builds into a rocking vocal / guitar production worthy of the QHCF — ending with waves rhythmically yet gently coming up the beach.

I’ve given these details because if I had heard one of those tracks I would want to know who the fine singer and the fine guitarists were, and I would buy the CD. They are that delightful.

But that survey would leave out the majority of the disc, Martin’s original compositions: STARGAZING / ON THE BANKS OF THE WINDRUSH, FAR AWAY / EPPING FOREST / GOLDEN HILL / THE OTTER / BRUNTCLIFFE / FOUND & LOST / COLONEL FAWCETT’S UKULELE / IN THE MERRY LAND OF UZ / X.  They aren’t easy to describe, much less categorize.  I hear lullabies, rhapsodies, inquiries, echoes of Hawaii, of Weill and Broadway shows, of Bach and modern classical, Forties film soundtracks, harp choirs, Scottish folk music, bluegrass, birdsong and forest sounds — all immaculately and warmly played.  Words fail me here, but the journey through this CD is rather like reading short stories or being shown a series of watercolors — nothing harsh, but everything evocative.

Martin told me, “Over the last seven or eight years I’ve returned to writing music and wanted it to have an outlet, which it wouldn’t get on gigs.  Although jazz is what I do, I have other musical interests and have played other sorts of music in the past. Without making any self-conscious attempts at ‘fusions’ I’ve tried to allow it all to come out – English folk tunes, Psychedelia, classical music – especially English 20th century, Hawaiian music, doubtless others. I don’t know how evident any of those is but they’re in there somewhere!

It probably is evident that most of it is romantic – Bruntcliffe, for example, I wrote as an organ piece to be played as entrance music for my wedding to Lindsay in 2011.  Most of it is less specific.  One piece with something of a programme is Colonel Fawcett’s Ukulele. Aside from punning on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, it was inspired by reading about Colonel Percy Fawcett and his habit of playing his ukulele to the natives he encountered in the Amazon.  What he played and how they reacted is unrecorded.  It’s an amazing tale.  The obvious conclusion is that he was deluded in his belief in the Lost City of Z and its civilization from which we could learn; however, we know that with no more certainty than we know what he played on his ukulele.”

A technical note: “Overdubs were done usually to a guide track which is not heard on the final mix (pulling up the ladder after climbing up!).  This allows for a steady pulse and changes in tempo when required.  Wayne McIntyre, the sound engineer, did a terrific job.”

“If anyone would like a copy please contact me. £10 incl p&. Hope you like it!”

Find Martin on Facebook here.  If it’s not evident, I recommend this disc fervently.  It’s original yet melodic, lyrical, sweet and rocking.

May your happiness increase!

 

THE BEAUTY OF IT HOT: AFTER HOURS IN THE VICTORY PUB, with JEFF BARNHART, BENT PERSSON, ANDY SCHUMM, TORSTEIN KUBBAN, KRISTOFFER KOMPEN, GRAHAM HUGHES, NORMAN FIELD, MATTHIAS SEUFFERT, FRANS SJOSTROM, LARS FRANK, JACOB ULLBERGER, JOSH DUFFEE — AT THE 2013 WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (November 1, 2013)

Collectively and joyously, Jeff Barnhart, keyboard / vocals; Bent Persson, Torstein Kubban, Andy Schumm, cornet; Graham Hughes, trombone; Kristoffer Kompen, valve-trombone; Lars Frank, tenor sax; Norman Field, clarinet; Matthias Seuffert, reeds; Jacob Ullberger, banjo; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Josh Duffee, drums.

Recorded on November 1, 2013, in the Victory Pub at the 2013 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party in Newcastle, England.

THEM THERE EYES:

NOBODY’S SWEETHEART NOW:

LULU’S BACK IN TOWN:

A fellow named Andy Schumm came by . . . and so did Josh Duffee:

MARGIE:

COME ON AND STOMP, STOMP, STOMP:

Because it is difficult to manage a camera, a tripod, a sheet of paper, and a pen, under these circumstances, I could be slightly inexact about who was playing what, when. (No doubt my precise readers will let me know my lapses.) It could have become November 2, 2013, while I was videoing. And if you think, “I can’t see the musicians,” I agree with you.

What matters is the liveliness of the music. These are the moments we remember all our lives — when improvisers, united by common love, memory, and knowledge, give us everything they have spent their lives experiencing — for the pure joy of it.

By the way, there’s more from this and another November 2013 jam session.  But the best way to experience such marvels is by being there. Consider this seriously if you can.

May your happiness increase!

THREE VARIETIES OF JAZZ EXPERIENCE at the 2012 WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (October 26, 2012)

Three delights, previously unseen, from the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party:

MY HONEY’S LOVIN’ ARMS, by Keith Nichols, piano / vocal; Norman Field, clarinet / vocal; Emma Fisk, violin, Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Spats Langham, guitar:

STOMP YOUR STUFF (with a Louis Hot Chorus at 3:24) by Bent Persson, cornet; Jean-Francois Bonnel, Rene Hagmann, Thomas Winteler, reeds; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Martin Seck, piano; Josh Duffee, drums; Martin Wheatley, banjo / guitar; Phil Rutherford, brass bass:

LOUISE (where are Bing and the Rhythm Boys?) with Andy Schumm, cornet; Spats Langham, banjo; Keith Nichols, piano; Michael McQuaid, C-melody saxophone; Norman Field, clarinet; Alistair Allan, trombone; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Phil Rutherford, brass bass; Richard Pite, drums:

See you at the Village Newcastle in November 2014. Details here.

And I just learned about the pre-Party opening jam session, featuring the Union Rhythm Kings on Thursday, November 6: that’s Bent Persson (trumpet), Lars Frank (clarinet and saxophone), Kristoffer Kompen (trombone); Jacob Ullberger (banjo & guitar); Frans Sjostrom (bass saxophone); Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano).  They are a wonderful band.

May your happiness increase!

TWO HOT, ONE WISTFUL: UNSEEN MUSICAL TREASURES FROM THE 2012 WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY

Three New Beauties from the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party — recorded on October 26 and 27, 2012 — living advertisements of what the musicians and the Party-givers do so superbly.

Part of a rousing tribute to the power behind the throne, Lil Hardin Armstrong (pianist, composer, bandleader, inspiration) — a song named for her young husband, PAPA DIP.  It’s performed here by Bent Persson, cornet; Stephane Gillot, alto saxophone; Matthias Seuffert, clarinet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Martin Seck, piano; Martin Wheatley, banjo; Malcolm Sked, string bass.

YOU RASCAL YOU has serious Armstrongian associations, although the performance here takes its impetus from the magnificent series of 1932-33 recordings by the “Rhythmakers,” ostensibly led by Billy Banks or Jack Bland — but really driven by Henry “Red” Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy Lord, Tommy Dorsey, Joe Sullivan, Fats Waller, Pops Foster, Eddie Condon, Zutty Singleton and other luminaries.  At the Classic Jazz Party, the New Rhythmakers kept things hot — Andy Schumm, cornet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Norman Field, clarinet; Jean-Francois Bonnel, tenor; Martin Seck, piano; Emma Fisk, violin; Spats Langham, banjo; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Josh Duffee, drums. This video also contains a sweet, sad memento: the voice and right hand of our much-missed Mike Durham introducing the band and cracking wise (as was his habit).  Thank you, Mike, for everything:

After all that violent heat, something rueful seems just right, so here is Cecile McLorin Salvant’s melancholy reading of the Willard Robison song A COTTAGE FOR SALE, with the empathic assistance of Norman Field, clarinet; Duke Heitger, trumpet; Spats Langham, guitar; Alistair Allan, trombone; Emma Fisk, violin; Martin Litton, piano; Henri Lemaire, string bass; Richard Pite, drums:

We don’t have to end on a wistful note.  I have three more 2012 delights to post and many more from 2013 . . . and (with a Nick Ward drum roll) the 2014 Party is happening this November 7 through 9 — details here.

You can learn all about it — the accomodations, pricing, concert themes . . . I’ll content myself my lingering over the list of musicians who will be there:

Trumpets: Bent Persson (Sweden), Duke Heitger (USA), Andy Schumm (USA), Ben Cummings (UK), Enrico Tomasso (UK) / Trombones: Kristoffer Kompen (Norway), Alistair Allan (UK), Graham Hughes (UK) / Reeds: Jean-François Bonnel (France), Mauro Porro (Italy), Claus Jacobi (Germany), Matthias Seuffert (Germany), Lars Frank (Norway), Thomas Winteler, (Switzerland) / Piano: Keith Nichols (UK), Martin Litton, (UK), Morten Gunnar Larsen (Norway), David Boeddinghaus (USA) / Banjo/Guitar: Spats Langham (UK), Henry Lemaire (France), Jacob Ullberger (Sweden), Martin Wheatley (UK) / String Bass: Richard Pite (UK), Henry Lemaire (France) / Brass Bass: Phil Rutherford (UK), Malcolm Sked (UK) / Drums: Josh Duffee (USA), Richard Pite (UK), Debbie Arthurs (UK) / Bass Sax: Frans Sjöström (Sweden) / Violin: Emma Fisk (UK) / Vocals: Janice Day (UK), Debbie Arthurs, (UK), Spats Langham (UK).

May your happiness increase!

MORE LIGHTNING IN THE DARK: JAMMING AT WHITLEY BAY 2013 (Part One)

I don’t quite know what it is like when the music isn’t being created there, but the Victory Pub in the Village Hotel Newcastle (UK) has become a small shrine for Hot music when the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party is in session — a once-yearly transformation into a place where dreams come true.

Here’s the second half of WASHBOARD WIGGLES, with Jeff Barnhart, keyboard / vocals; Bent Persson, Torstein Kubban, cornet; Graham Hughes, trombone; Lars Frank, reeds; Jacob Ullberger, banjo; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone:

Then, the Master stopped in — Norman Field and his clarinet — for a romp on LITTLE GIRL (with the verse and a characteristically buoyant Jeff Barnhart vocal):

We don’t like to talk about Buddy behind his back, but we must — BUDDY’S HABITS:

More of the good stuff — The Good Stuff — is on the way. And a cinematographic postscript: if you can, while watching on YouTube, boost the settings (where the little gear or toothed wheel is) to the highest — 1o80 — and watch full screen. That way you will find, no matter what Gertrude Stein said, there is a there there!

May your happiness increase!

THIS ONE’S FOR PATTI: SWEET MUSIC FROM THE 2012 WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY

If you know anything about the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party (formerly known as the Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival) you can’t help being fond of and admiring Patti Durham.  She continues to be a loving presence, a truly dear friend to many people.  So “this one’s for Patti”: one of her favorite songs, performed at the 2012 Party.

GUILTY is one of those pretty, emotive early-Thirties ballads associated with Al Bowlly.  Here, it’s performed by the emotionally compelling (and always swinging) Spats Langham, vocal and guitar; Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Emma Fisk, violin; Norman Field, reeds; Martin Litton, piano;  Manu Hagmann, string bass; Richard Pite, drums.  And as the performance goes along, I always imagine a meeting of Bowlly with a mid-Thirties Teddy Wilson band . . . an alternate universe in the Brunswick studios, where sweet meets swing:

Thank you, dear Patti, for inspiring us in so many ways.

May your happiness increase!

STOMPING AT WHITLEY BAY (November 2013)

First, the theme song of the overtired jet-lagged jazz blogger:

Having offered that, I proceed to the reason for the joyous exhaustion: my visit (with video camera and notebook) to the 2013 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party. To tell all the tale would tax my five wits, but the music — small concerts in the main ballroom, plus rehearsals and jam sessions in the Victory Pub — was engrossing.  As I write this, more than three hundred videos are up-or-downloading.  And many of them will be shared with what I know is a fervent audience.

Speaking of that audience, I met a number of most grateful and devoted JAZZ LIVES readers in person, always a very heartwarming experience.  I said to more than one person, “It means so much to me to know that real people are out there, that I am spending hours in front of the computer so that _____ can see and enjoy this performance.”  Thank you all, those people I’ve met and those yet to be encountered.

I’ve been attending the banquets of music put on at the Village Newcastle in England since 2009 — first, the Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival, now the Classic Jazz Party — and they have always delighted and enlightened. They continue to reflect the spirit of their departed founder, Mike Durham, who felt that if the music was not presented in its historical context, then that history would be lost.  So these weekends have always offered us something more elaborate than six people on the stand having a good time playing the blues or a ballad medley: mini-concerts that are often highly educational although never tedious.

On paper, it might look as if one had wandered into a living jazz museum — the Hot Tate, for instance.  But since “museum” has immediate associations of antiquity, with the treasures safely packed away, visible but out of reach, I think the Classic Jazz Party is more properly compared to a wondrously shape-changing repertory company.  One hour, Matthias Seuffert is Johnny Dodds; another, he has reappeared as Coleman Hawkins, then Lester Young, which is the jazz equivalent of seeing Olivier one night as Iago, then next as Stanley Kowalski, a third as Everyman.

This year, there was a lively hour of Jelly Roll Morton, a swinging evocation of the early Basie band, two sessions of Ellington (Twenties, then late Thirties), a lovely reincarnation of the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks — where else would such a thing happen? — an hour with the 1929-31 Luis Russell band.  There were also more informal tributes to Mildred Bailey, Lee Wiley, Coleman Hawkins, Stuff Smith and Eddie South, Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Condon and the Chicagoans, Harry Reser, Ray Noble and Al Bowlly, Jabbo Smith, Fats Waller and his Rhythm, Bessie Smith, Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers, Tiny Parham, the California Ramblers, Clarence Williams Jazz Kings, King Oliver in New York, British dance bands, the Jimmie Noone Apex Club Orchestra, and more . . . torch songs and cheerful songs from the Great Depression, solo piano recitals, two outings for Jeff and Anne Barnhart’s Ivory and Gold, and more.  The program lists thirty-eight separate sessions, including the nocturnal happenings in the Victory Pub, which (I am told) continued well past 2:30 AM.

The players and singers were:

Bent Persson, Duke Heitger, Andy Schumm, Ben Cummings, Andy Woon, Torstein Kubban, Kristoffer Kompen, Alistair Allan, Graham Hughes, Aurélie Tropez, Stéphane Gillot, Jean-Francois Bonnel, Claus Jacobi, Matthias Seuffert, Lars Frank, Frans Sjostrom, Keith Nichols, Jeff Barnhart, Morten Gunnar Larsen, Martin Seck, Spats Langham, Henry Lemaire, Jacob Ullberger, Roly Veitch, Richard Pite, Henry Lemaire, Malcolm Sked, Phil Rutherford, Jean-Philippe Palma, Josh Duffee, Julien Richard, Nick Ward, Emma Fisk, Daryl Sherman, Cecile McLorin Salvant.

I won’t single out individual performers — that would take more energy than I have at the moment — but the music ranged from excellent to enthralling.

Thanks to all the musicians, to Mike Durham, to Patti Durham, to Julio and Jonathan, and to pals Bob and Bobbie, Ron and Ellen, Peter and his saxophone, to Michel Bastide, to Emrah and Pascal,to Norman Field,  to Mary B. and John Carstairs Hallam . . . and more.

And — not incidentally — here are the last notes I heard on Sunday-night-into-Monday-morning before I went to bed.  The jam session at the Victory Pub continued, but here’s KING PORTER STOMP — featuring Morten Gunnar Larssen at the portable keyboard; Andy Schumm on C-melody saxophone; Torstein Kubban on cornet; Kristoffer Kompen on trombone; Jacob Ullberger on banjo; Nick Ward on drums; Claus Jacobi on Frans Sjostrom’s beloved bass saxophone:

Stomp, indeed.  More to come.

And “more to come” is a serious thing.  Amid general rejoicing, it was announced that the 2014 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party will be held, beginning Friday, November 7, 2014.  As Harry Barris wrote, IT MUST BE TRUE.

May your happiness increase!

ON MY WAY / TO WHITLEY BAY / WHERE GOOD TIMES ARE PLENTIFUL

Feel free to join in with my new song — doggerel created to the tune of Harry Belafonte’s JAMAICA FAREWELL: “I’m on me way / to Whitley Bay / won’t be back / till late Monday / I’m all excit’ / Won’t miss my flight / I know I’ll have a time / at Whitley Bay.”

Obviously, I have no reputation as a composer of calypso.

The omens and portents are much more favorable today than they were in 2012.  That trip that began with this weary traveler leaving his passport at home and making a costly racing roundtrip to retrieve it. The glorious jazz weekend ended with Superstorm Sandy and its global effects.   Of course, in both cases, I was helped immensely by generous strangers (at British Airways) and swing friends.

But Whitley Bay — now the Classic Jazz Party, formerly the International Jazz Festival — has been a special place since my first visit in 2009. There I met and admired Bent Persson, Aurelie Tropez, Nick Ward, Jacob Ullberger, Matthias Seuffert, Emma Fisk, Frans Sjostrom, Norman Field, and two dozen others. There I basked in the wit and generosity of the late Mike Durham, who still remains a vivid presence. I will be looking around corners for him all weekend long.  And this year the visiting Americans aren’t so bad, either: Andy Schumm, Josh Duffee, Duke Heitger, Jeff Barnhart, Daryl Sherman.

This year’s party offers exciting thematic presentations: the music of Coon-Sanders, early Ellington, Mildred Bailey, Lee Wiley, Basie 1937, Johnny Dodds, Eddie South and Stuff Smith, rare Bix, rare Fats, California Ramblers, and more.  My camera batteries are charged and I feel the same way.

I wish I could sweep you all along with me, but the airlines are fussy about bringing unscheduled guests.  So I hope JAZZ LIVES readers have patience: I will video-record as much as possible, and subject to musicians’ approval, you will see much of it in the months to come.

I expect to be busy listening, recording, talking and hanging out — living life away from the computer — so if this blog seems quiet for this long weekend, don’t feel abandoned. I am simply gathering new material for your pleasure.

I don’t anticipate think that any of my readers has sufficient frequent flyer miles to jump on a plane right this minute, but “day tickets” are still available, £50 a day.  Details here.  But you’d have to be fairly close to Newcastle to make this possible.  (On a whim, I checked Expedia for round-trip from New York and the least expensive flight was $1500.)

By the time some of you read this, I will already be on a Delta flight to Newcastle by way of Amsterdam . . . a jazz pilgrim on one of the great pilgrimages, bearing notebook and camera, CDs and snacks, clothing, pills, and an umbrella — instead of a scallop shell.

See you back at the ranch on Tuesday, November 5!

Here’s a little music from the 2012 Party, a video of mine that has not been made public before, to lift up your spirits and embody what the weekend is all about.  Rene Hagmann, cornet; Jean-Francois Bonnel, clarinet; Roly Veitch, guitar; Manu Hagmann, string bass, performing THAT’S A-PLENTY in hono(u)r of the Bechet-Spanier Big Four. My feelings exactly.

May your happiness increase!

“LIVE SPORT”: A JAM SESSION AFTER HOURS IN THE VICTORY PUB, NEWCASTLE (Oct. 28-29, 2012) with the STARS of THE WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY

Once more . . . if “Mister Mike” isn’t someone recognizable to you, would you kindly take a minute and read this?  It would mean a great deal to many people, and, to paraphrase Dizzy Gillespie, “No him, no this.”

“This” turns out to be my video record of the closing notes of the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party — a jam session on Sunday night held in the Victory Pub of the Village Newcastle.  Some of the details are indistinct — I would have made a very bad spy — because a video camera, even on a tripod, is an ungainly dance partner.  I wrote down personnels on the back of two JAZZ LIVES cards, which have now vanished into that place where Things That Vanish go.  So if I’ve left out the name of a noble participant, email me at swingyoucats@gmail.com. and tell me.

Or you can simply observe musicians brilliantly at play in the dark.

LONESOME BLUES (from the Hot Five book) Thomas Winteler, soprano saxophone; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Martin Litton, keyboard — he deserves a grand piano! — ; Roly Veitch, guitar; Josh Duffee, drums):

AFTER YOU’VE GONE (Thomas Winteler, soprano saxophone; Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Martin Litton, keyboard; Martin Wheatley, guitar; Josh Duffee, drums):

I NEVER KNEW Andy Schumm, cornet; Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Thomas Winteler, Michael McQuaid, Norman Field, reeds; Martin Wheatley, guitar; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone, and others):   

ONCE IN A WHILE (for Louis and the Hot Five — performed by Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Thomas Winteler, Michael McQuaid, Norman Field, reeds; Spats Langham, guitar; Manu Hagmann, bass; Josh Duffee, drums, and others):

MY MELANCHOLY BABY (traditionally the dreaded request by inebriated patrons in the bar, but Spats Langham turns it into a masterpiece of tender swing here, aided by Andy Schumm, cornet; Kristoffer Kompen, trombone; Henri Lemaire, string bass; Matthias Seuffert, tenor saxophone; Michael McQuaid, alto saxophone, Josh Duffee, drums. The admiring watchers include Frans Sjostrom, Martin Wheatley, Stephane Gillot):

I SAW STARS (which I associate with the 1934 debut of Django and Stephane on Ultraphone — here rendered with sweet fervor by Roly Veitch, guitar / vocal; Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Matthias Seuffert, Michael McQuaid, reeds; Alistair Allan, trombone; Henri Lemaire, string bass; Josh Duffee, drums):

Then, as if by magic, the scene shifted . . . suddenly it was 1941; we were at Minton’s (or someplace north of 125th Street in Harlem, New York City; I had turned into Jerry Newman, recording swing-to-bop for posterity . . . you’ll hear what I mean.

LESTER LEAPS IN (Martin Litton, keyboard; Michael McQuaid, alto saxophone; Rico Tomasso, Andy Schumm, trumpet; Matthias Seuffert, tenor saxophone; Alistair Allan, trombone; Martin Wheatley, Roly Veitch, guitar; Manu Hagmann, string bass; Josh Duffee, drums):

TOPSY (Martin Litton, keyboard; Michael McQuaid, alto saxophone; Rico Tomasso, trumpet; Matthias Seuffert, tenor saxophone; Alistair Allan, trombone; Martin Wheatley, Roly Veitch, guitar; Manu Hagmann, string bass; Josh Duffee, drums):

After those last notes had stopped echoing, I (and some others) made our weary, happy way to bed . . . rocking gently on what we had heard, dreaming sweetly of the 2013 Party.

For Mister Mike.

And, as always, tickets are on sale to the 2013 Party, the best-organized high-spirited living jazz museum, here.

May your happiness increase.

“SHAKE IT AND BREAK IT”: THE RETURN OF THE DIXIE SYNCOPATORS at the WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (October 28, 2012)

A hot band is good to find.  And this splendid evocation of romping big band jazz is a special treat — led by pianist / scholar Keith Nichols at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party on October 28, 2012, it evokes King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators, a particular favorite of the guiding genius of the Classic Jazz Party, Mike Durham.

Alongside Keith, there are Duke Heitger (trumpet, vocal), Andy Schumm (cornet); Kristoffer Kompen (trombone); Gavin Lee, Matthias Seuffert, Rene Hagmann, reeds, with a guest appearance from Norman Field; Martin Wheatley (banjo); Phil Rutherford (brass bass), Josh Duffee (drums).

TOO BAD:

DEEP HENDERSON (the reference in the title is to a river, not to Fletcher or Horace):

SNAG IT (with vocal refrain by Mr. Heitger):

SOMEDAY SWEETHEART (with a guest appearance by Mr. Field as Mr. Dodds):

DOCTOR JAZZ:

WANG WANG BLUES:

SUGAR FOOT STOMP:

SHAKE IT AND BREAK IT:

For Mister Mike.  And, as always, tickets are on sale to the 2013 Party, the garden of delights, here.

May your happiness increase.

MR. LANGHAM CELEBRATES MR. BOWLLY at WHITLEY BAY: ENRICO TOMASSO, JENS LINDGREN, NORMAN FIELD, EMMA FISK, MARTIN LITTON, MANU HAGMANN, RICHARD PITE (Oct. 27, 2012)

Al Bowlly was a memorable singer and guitarist.  Thomas “Spats” Langham is a memorable singer and guitarist.  Does anyone see a pattern here?

The musical connections were warmly evident at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, when Spats took to the little bandstand to celebrate Al — with the best friendly assistance from Enrico Tomasso, trumpet; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Norman Field, reeds; Emma Fisk, violin; Martin Litton, piano; Manu Hagmann, string bass; Richard Pite, drums.

Spats crooned sweetly, earnestly, and with lovely humor — and the band rocked or serenaded around him.  On the first tune (and others) I thought, “My goodness, this is how Al Bowlly might have sounded if he had ended up in the (U.S.) Brunswick Records studios in 1936 with a Teddy Wilson small band,” and the combination was inspiring.

GOT A DATE WITH AN ANGEL:

THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN:

THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (oh, so sweet):

MY SWEET VIRGINIA:

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME? (Readers, I apologize for the missing eight bars at the end.  It is possible that unintentionally shut the camera off because I was trying too hard to hold back tears, and I am serious):

One other selection, performed beautifully, GUILTY, will show up in another form.  Immensely touching music.

I write this post with my father in mind.  Born in 1915, this was his music — and I learned the lyrics to BROTHER from him, very early.  He would have admired Spats very much.

May your happiness increase.

BLUE-BLOWING IN THE BLOGOSPHERE: ANDY SCHUMM HONORS THE MOUND CITY BLUE BLOWERS at WHITLEY BAY 2012

During this set at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, it began to snow, but Andy Schumm and his Blue Blowers brought so much heat to the room that we barely noticed the changes being made.

We know young hero Andy as a paragon of the cornet, to which he has added piano, various reeds, drums, and now the comb and newspaper (or is it tissue paper?) in the manner of the heroic Red McKenzie, late of St. Louis.

The collective swingers for this set include our master of ceremonies Mike Durham (Mike was temporarily unable to lead on brass — doctor’s orders — but will be back blowing hot in 2013); Emma Fisk, violin; Jens Lindgren, trombone; Norman Field and Jean-Francois Bonnel, reeds; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Martin Seck, piano; Spats Langham, vocal, banjo; Malcolm Sked, brass bass; Josh Duffee, drums.  “Hotter than a depot stove!” to use the ancient but appropriate phrase — on these performances of music first recorded between 1927 and 1929.  Connoisseurs of the paranormal will note spectral (approving) appearances by Glenn Miller, Joe Venuti, Pee Wee Russell, Frank Teschemacher, Adrian Rollini, and the mysterious Jack Bland.

THERE’LL BE SOME CHANGES MADE:

HELLO, LOLA:

ONE HOUR:

Fire extinguisher, anyone?  Perhaps next year I could request a ballad-tempo I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH ME, one of McKenzie’s finest records.

May your happiness increase.

THEY’RE THROUGH WITH LOVE: CECILE McLORIN SALVANT, SPATS LANGHAM, DUKE HEITGER, ALISTAIR ALLAN, NORMAN FIELD, EMMA FISK, MARTIN LITTON, HENRI LEMAIRE, RICHARD PITE at the WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (November 26, 2012)

Music for the lovelorn, the hopeful, the despairing, the wistful . . .all in swingtime, performed at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party by singers Cecile McLorin Salvant and Spats Langham (who has a guitar or banjo in his hands most of the time), with instrumental backing from trumpeter Duke Heitger, trombonist Alistair Allan, reed hero Norman Field, violinist Emma Fisk, pianist Martin Litton, bassist Henri Lemaire, and drummer Richard Pite.

There’s a long tradition in jazz of taking the most mournful popular songs (and I think there have always been more downcast songs than elated ones, although I haven’t counted) at swinging tempos. Even the saddest Crosby and Columbo laments had some rhythm in them, and if you consider Billie’s I’M GONNA LOCK MY HEART for one example, you’ll see the possibilities of the juxtaposition.

But until Cecile’s romp on the final song, much of this set was sadness or yearning in a lightly mobile 4 / 4.

Spats began with Fud Livingston’s sadly serious I’M THROUGH WITH LOVE:

YOU’VE GOT ME CRYIN’ AGAIN was recorded in 1933 by both Bing Crosby and a young Lee Wiley:

Cecile tells the imaginary lover I GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU VERY WELL:

Spats goes back to Bing and Eddie Lang — at the same time — for a song I love dearly, PLEASE:

Evoking the jazz tradition of fifteen years later (I thought of Sarah Vaughan), Cecile swings out with LOVER, COME BACK TO ME:

I don’t know what this music would do for the genuinely lovelorn (in the audience or on the stand) but I appreciate every turn.

May your happiness increase.

“IT’S SO GOOD”: HONORING JIMMY McPARTLAND AND FRIENDS at WHITLEY BAY 2012 (ANDY SCHUMM, MICHAEL McQUAID, ALISTAIR ALLAN, NORMAN FIELD, SPATS LANGHAM, KEITH NICHOLS, FRANS SJOSTROM, PHIL RUTHERFORD, RICHARD PITE: October 26, 2012)

If you simply showed me this personnel, as a kind of jazz Rorschach test — Andy Schumm (cornet), Michael McQuaid,  Norman Field (reeds), Alistair Allan (trombone), Keith Nichols (piano), Spats Langham (guitar / banjo), Frans Sjostrom (bass saxophone), Phil Rutherford (brass bass), Richard Pite (drums) — and asked me what I expected, or how I reacted, I would say that HOT JAZZ was coming, abandoned and accurate.

My experience at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party will show you that my perception is correct.  This band, under Andy’s leadership, assembled on October 26 to honor cornetist Jimmy McPartland and his friends — specifically, the recordings they made under a variety of pseudonyms in the late Twenties and the first two years of the next decade as refugees from Ben Pollack’s large, often sweet orchestra.  Irving Mills’ Merry Makers.  Jimmy Bracken’s Toe Ticklers.  Mills Musical Clowns, Jimmy McHugh’s Bostonians.  And more.

Here is their very hot set — with commentary by Andy and searing playing by everyone.  (My wisdom tooth says YES.)

IT’S TIGHT LIKE THAT:

BLACK BOTTOM:

DIGA DIGA DOO:

BEND DOWN, SISTER ( a song about physical exercise and diet — lyrics below — in case Andy’s mom is truly worried about what her son is up to):

FUTURISTIC RHYTHM:

MY SWEET TOOTH SAYS ‘I WANNA’ (But My Wisdom Tooth Says No):

SHAKIN’ THE BLUES AWAY:

IT’S SO GOOD (with Andy and Michael switching instruments, expertly):

FRESHMAN HOP:

Red hot Chicago (and New York) visits Newcastle!  For more of the same in autumn 2013, be sure to visit here while there are seats and rooms available.  The 2012 Party sold out early.

“You’ve got to bend down, sister / Bend down, sister / If you want to keep thin / No more messing / With French dressing / Sister, you’ll have to bear it and grin / You can flirt with noodle soup / Sniff but don’t dare give in / Bend down, sister / Bend down, sister / If you want to keep thin.”  Second chorus variations: “Don’t be hasty / With French pastry / If you never should eat at all / You’re a cinch to win.”

May your happiness increase.

RAGGIN’ THE SCALES at WHITLEY BAY 2012: KEITH NICHOLS, EMMA FISK, MARTIN WHEATLEY, NORMAN FIELD, FRANS SJOSTROM (Oct. 26, 2012)

The 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party opened — not with a bang but with a rag.  This set, led by the elegantly risque Keith Nichols (piano, vocals, commentary) featured Emma Fisk (violin), Norman Field (reeds), Martin Wheatley (banjo/ guitar), and Frans Sjostrom (bass saxophone) in a program that roved about in the first thirty years of the last century.

The Classic Jazz Party is like no other — a living, energized jazz museum with plenty of room for blowing and smiles all around.  Here’s the first cheerful offering of a long rollicking musical weekend.

Eubie Blake’s CHEVY CHASE:

MY LITTLE BIMBO DOWN ON THE BAMBOO ISLE (when being a Bimbo meant something pleasant — circa 1920.  Lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Walter Donaldson):

Then Keith and colleagues moved into territory so wonderfully explored by Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Harold Arlen, Jimmy Dorsey, Adrian Rollini, and others, beginning with RAGGIN’ THE SCALE:

PARDON ME, PRETTY BABY:

PRETTY TRIX:

DINAH:

THE WILD DOG:

A short commercial interlude: the 2012 Party was sold out — dramatically early. The 2013 Party (Friday November 1 – Sunday November 3, with a pre-party concert on October 31) has already begun to fill up.  Click here for details.  It promises to be thoroughly gratifying.

May your happiness increase.

JOSH DUFFEE’S “TRUMBOLOGY” at the 2012 WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY — STARRING ANDY SCHUMM as BIX, PRODUCED by EMRAH ERKEN

One of the niccest moments at the 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party was being able to finally meet the generous jazz scholar Emrah Erken (you may know him as Atticus70 on YouTube).

Emrah is one of those enlightened souls who not only loves the music but wants to share it with all of us.  Not only is he a delightful person, he’s also a fine cinematgorapher — all of the videos below were created with his iPhone5 (and are best viewed in 1080).  I’m thrilled to have such a gifted brother with a video camera!  You’ll love the results.

The band Emrah captured was drummer / leader Josh Duffee’s TRUMBOLOGY — a logical and heartfelt tribute to Frank Trumbauer and his colleagues.  The award-winning 2012 creators are Andy Schumm, cornet;  Kristoffer Kompen, trombone;  Norman Field, Michael McQuaid, Stéphane Gillot, Mathias Seuffert, saxes, reeds;  Keith Nichols, piano; Frans Sjostrom, bass saxophone; Martin Wheatley, guitar / banjo; Josh Duffee, leader, drums, with a  guest appearance by Emma Fisk, violin.   Recorded on October 28, 2012.

OSTRICH WALK:

CRYIN’ ALL DAY:

‘WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS:

CHOO CHOO (the soundtrack for a futuristic Thirties cartoon)

TURN ON THE HEAT (with a lovely wooing vocal by Spats Langham after Norman Field’s wonderful C-melody chorus):

I’M COMIN’ VIRGINIA:

THREE BLIND MICE:

BORNEO:

SINGIN’ THE BLUES:

WRINGIN’ AND TWISTIN’ (performed by Andy, piano / cornet; Michael, C-melody, Martin, guitar):

CLARINET MARMALADE (listen for Matthias in the first chorus and later):

Well-played, gents!  And well-captured, Emrah!  Thanks also to Mike and Patti Durham for making such good music (in such welcoming circumstances) possible year after year.  Don’t miss out on the 2013 delights: click  jazzfest.

May your happiness increase.

MORE HOT NOTES (Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, Oct. 27, 2013)

More random impressions from the second day of the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party:

The elegant Martin Litton merging himself and Teddy Wilson for the first set of the day, a solo recital of pretty songs (BODY AND SOUL) and more energetic ones (LIZA);

a ferocious evocation of the New Orleans Bootblacks and Wanderers (recording aliases with not a little of the expected condescension of the time featuring Lillian Hardin Armstrong, George Mitchell, Johnny Dodds) — by Bent Persson, Jens Lindgren, Stephane Gillot, Matthias Seuffert, Martin Seck, Martin Wheatley, and Malcolm Sked — music that nearly unsettled the foundations of the Village Hotel Newcastle (PAPA DIP, DROP THAT SACK, TOO TIGHT, GEORGIA BO BO, MY BABY, and two others).  Down-home exuberance!  I was delighted by Gillot’s alto playing, which (from my perch) made the band echo the late-Twenties Sam Morgan recordings . . . with magnificent ensemble and solo work from the others;

a tribute to Red Nichols from 1926-30, with Andy Schumm stepping into the role masterfully, Alistair Allan summoning up the Master Miff Mole (shoes off or on), Michael McQuaid reminding us, once again, how much Lester Young must have learned from Jimmy Dorsey, Frans Sjostrom singing pretty songs through his bass saxophone, and Nick Ward creating hot castles in the air.  That would have been sufficient pleasure for anyone, but when Rico Tomasso and Duke Heitger joined for the trumpet trio on ECCENTRIC, it was nearly too much pleasure to bear;

reed wizard Thomas Winteler sitting close to the bandstand, smiling;

Rene Hagmann, on cornet; Jean-Froncois Bonnel, soprano, giving their own individualistic version of the Bechet-Spanier Big Four — the expected songs, but full of surprising light and shade — the landscape we expected but seen anew, with Hagmann suggesting not Muggsy but Cootie, marvelously;

Spats Langham singing the songs of Al Bowlly (accompanying himself on guitar) so tenderly that I thought I saw tears in many eyes — but also suggesting that Bowlly could easily have visited the ARC studios in 1937 and made himself at home with a small elegant hot band;

a wonderfully romping evocation of the Graeme Bell-Humphrey Lyttelton collaborations led by Michael McQuaid, with fires stoked by Duke Heitger, Bent Persson, and Nick Ward;

Josh Duffee’s loving and energized McKinney’s Cotton Pickers (all new songs) with vocal refrains by Mike Durham, Spats Langham, and Keith Nichols — reminding us that there are rainbows around our shoulders when we know how to do the ZONKY;

trombone hero Kris Kompen donning the mantle of Jack Teagarden — for a sweetly swinging DIANE and a BABY, WON’T YOU PLEASE COME HOME that truly cut loose;

Cecile McLorin Salvant, Bent Persson, Thomas Winteler, Keith Nichols, and Martin Wheatley suggesting that the 1928 OKeh studios had moved right next to the local Marks and Spencer, with visits from Lille Delk Christian and Little Louis;

I missed the tributes to Mary Lou Williams (at the head of the Andy Kirk band) and the Missourians, as well as what I was told was an exuberant jam session in the Victory Pub — video-recording and note-taking can be draining, too — but what I did see was choice and more.

A continued pleasure was the beautiful natural sound provided by Chris and Veronica Perrin — I’d hire them for every jazz party!

People are already reserving their places for 2013.  You come, too.

May your happiness increase.

HOT NOTES (Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, Oct. 26, 2012)

Random impressions of the first day at the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party . . .

the wonderfully agile and focused violinist Emma Fisk filling in for Joe Venuti, who had other commitments;

Nick Ward, adjusting his gong for the best auditory efficiency, so that he could reach over and hit it (affectionately) at the proper moments — and his castanet work during a dark soulful reading of Jelly Roll Morton’s JUNGLE BLUES (led by Martin Litton);

Andy Schumm’s blue-blowing, luminous cornet, first-rate alto playing;

the same Andy leading a romping rendition of BEND DOWN, SISTER . . . I asked if he would consider a vocal rendition next year;

two magnificent trombonists, Kristoffer Kompen and Alistair Allan;

Bent Persson making Louis come alive on CAFE CAPERS and SPANISH SHAWL  as well as HOT NOTES;

Cecile McLorin Salvant making her way sadly through I GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU VERY WELL;

Spats Langham being both Bing Crosby and Eddie Lang on PLEASE;

Thomas Winteler throwing his head back slightly to show us how the soprano saxophone should sound;

Jean-Francois Bonnel and Rene Hagmann, giants roaming the earth, ennobling the air;

the quietly eloquent Michael McQuaid, making his alto sing;

Norman Field with a rack of reed instruments, making the twenties and Thirties come alive — “That’s Fud Livingston!” I heard someone near me say);

Duke Heitger, muted, playing a tender obbligato;

a hilariously incendiary rendition of HELLO, LOLA (with or without comma);

Keith Nichols being anecdotal from the piano bench;

Josh Duffee getting more music out of one cymbal than Zildian ever imagined;

and more, and more . . .

Beautiful natural sound provided by Chris and Veronica Perrin — I’d hire them for every jazz party!

The Classic Jazz Party will continue on in 2013.

May your happiness increase.