It hardly seems possible amid thecurrent deluge of cancellations,but, as things stand, at leasttwo important UK jazz festivalshave declared themselvesdetermined to press on, maybenot quite as normal, but with theevents that, within governmentrestrictions, will be worthy oftheir name and reputation.

With no concrete prognosisfor when such places asbars and restaurants will befully operational, Octoberseems to be the month whenwe hope that the festivalscene will return to life.

The regular July date for the36th Birmingham, Sandwelland Westside Jazz Festival isclearly impossible, but thefestival has not been cancelled,but postponed, until October16-25, hoping to catch the lastrays of summer sunshine in theweek before British SummerTime comes to an end.Thehuge task of dismantling the200 performances in 80 venuesevent and restructuring it as faras possible is already under way.

Although some of the outdoorevents will fall victim to thechanged date and the appearanceof bands and musicians fromSpain, France, Lithuania and Italymay possibly be in jeopardy, thereis every chance of a memorablefestival, with an exciting line-up of UK jazz stars, Europeanvisitors both new and familiar,festival favourites and a wholeslew of groups playing thebest of blues and Americana.

A week later the Mike DurhamInternational Classic Jazz Party,also known as the Whitley BayJazz Festival, is there in its regularslot: October 30 to November 1at theVillage Hotel and LeisureCentre north of Newcastle.As with Birmingham, the hopeis that travel restrictions willnot impede the arrival of30-odd star musicians fromAustralia, the United States,all over Europe and, of course,the UK. Imaginatively plannedthematically, the Jazz Party’srevisiting of the first 40 years ofjazz is almost certainly unique.

www.birminghamjazzfestival.comwww.whitleybayjazzfest.com

ISSUE 161 SPRING 2020SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Photo by Merlin Daleman

At Birmingham

At Whitley Bay

Obviously all our readers will be aware of thestrange changed world we live in – hopefully,only temporarily. We considered long and hardwhat to do about Jazz Rag 161.

That the staff who produce JazzRag are working mainly fromhome is no great problem.Thedifficulties arise firstly withnews stories, with cancellationsand postponements floodingin on a regular basis. CDs forreview have also been muchreduced in number.Worst of all,advertisers, quite naturally, havebeen unwilling to advertise ata time when their cash flow isunpredictable and events areliable to cancellation.

However, this is also a time whenour cash flow is unpredictable,but we had no wish for JazzRag to become yet anothervictim of the pandemic, so wehave produced a smaller thanusual edition and hope that oursubscribers will understand.

In this issue you will find somehigh-quality writing about jazz,often reflective or not specificallyrelated to Spring 2020, and, onthis uniquely newsy cover, oneor two stories to show the jazzlife continuing.

JAZZ RAG IN LOCKDOWN

WHEN OCTOBER COMES

Unmentioned in the magazine’s crowded pages, but rememberedfor their varied contributions to jazz, the following also left us inthe last two months, most, though not all, victims of COVID-19:

Alto sax legend Lee Konitz whose professional career began in1945 and who was in on The Birth of the Cool, but recorded hisfinal album as recently as 2018.

Former Jazz Messenger, trumpeter Wallace Roney.

Avant garde bassist, violinist and poet Henry Grimes.

Veteran big band singer Betty Bennett whose husbandsincluded Andre Previn and Mundell Lowe.

Prolific and versatile alto saxist/composer Richie Cole.

Trombonist Jim Shepherd whose career took in albums withsuch varied international names as Benny Waters and Jeff Healey.

REMEMBERING

L-R: Dave Green, Bruce Adams,Vasilis Xenopoulos

Morten Gunnar-Larsen, Emma Fisk, Claus Jacobi, Richard Exall

Photo byDavid de la Haye

2 THE JAZZ RAG

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REMEMBERING AL GAY

3THE JAZZ RAG

REMEMBERING AL GAY

Like Phil Seamen – he of theinfamous ‘dinner is served’story – Al Gay is one ofthose British jazzmen nowbetter known for an amusinganecdote than for his playing.

The story goes that, some timein the 1970s, he and fellowsaxophonist John Barnes werebooked to play a gig with aband they were co-leading,only to arrive at the venueon the night in question tofind themselves billed as ‘TheAll Gay Joan Barnes Sextet’.Cue laughter (that’s if youhaven’t already heard it).

At the considerable risk ofcausing a storm in a teacup,these days – in which gender andsexual orientation are subjectsmuch talked of, even within jazzcircles, which have long beenliberal where such things areconcerned – if you did turn upwith an all gay female line-upnobody would raise an eyebrow.In fact, there’s probably oneout there, on the road, rightnow; playing some godawfulpoliticized suite fashioned fromthe slenderest of musical morsels.But don’t start me on all that.

So perhaps this well-known Brit-Jazz anecdote is one now bestleft unsaid, as time-locked andnon-PC as vast tracts of 1970sLight Entertainment. If so, it’saltogether a bit of a shame, not

because anyone would feel bereftof a cheap laugh, but becauseif anyone tells it nowadaysit’s about the only mentionone hears of Al Gay, one-timestalwart of the mainstream UKjazz circles but one of thoseplayers whose name might wellnow elicit the response ‘Al who?’

In an earlier issue of Jazz Rag,Alan Barnes profiled Gay’spartner-in-anecdote JohnBarnes – whom you mightcall the ‘straight’ man of thepartnership – and delivered awarm, touching and frequentlyhilarious tribute to someonehe knows very well indeed.I can’t quite follow suit whereAl is concerned, simply becausewe played together just twice,back at the dawn of my career,and as such didn’t reallyknow one another at all.

Nevertheless, in those few hourswe spent together he left mewith a deep appreciation of hismusicianship and his manner.Kind, generous, encouragingand patient,Al was exactly thekind of elder statesman a youngjazz musician needs to meet onhis way up,As a player, he wasequally exemplary, teaching youa lifetime’s worth of lessons injust a few economical choruses.

However, fear not; this isn’tabout to be blow-by-blowcomprehensive timeline of Al’s

musical associations. For thatI’d recommend John Chilton’smasterly Who’sWho of British Jazz(Continuum, 1997), which givesa firm outline of the good andthe great with whom Al workedover his 60-plus year professionalcareer. Nor will it be a drytreatise examining his music asif it were under a microscope.No, this is simply my reflectionson a man who I wish I’d had theopportunity to know better.

I first saw him on television,around 1991 I guess, whenBBC-2 were re-screeningepisodes of the classic mid-1960s series Jazz 625. Somewhatarbitrarily butchered, with newgraphics replacing the originaliconic opening sequence,these repackagings were nowintroduced by a ‘celebrity’announcer, filmed in moody blackand white. Some knew what theywere talking about – CourtneyPine, Neneh Cherry, Flora Purim–, others seemed to have beenbought in in a thinly disguised bidto up the ratings (Mick Hucknallon Bill Evans! Do me a favour!).The most entertaining of allwas the late Slim Gaillard, a truejazz icon, whose impeccablecredentials made you forgivehis somewhat awkward waywith an autocue. One night, Slimintroduced a session featuringthe maverick trumpeter Henry‘Red’ Allen, accompanied by theAlex Welsh band (I’m prettysure Slim rechristened himAlec), taped in summer 1964,which, duly committed toVHS,became a favourite in our houseduring my teenaged years.

The nominal star was a hoot,of course, all hangdog features,incomprehensible asides and‘whamp, whamp’ introductions.But alongside him there wasanother musician who caughtmy attention; a smartly suitedclarinettist who every sooften often picked up a tenorsaxophone to offer solos thatboth intrigued and delighted me.

At this time I was what I supposeyou could call a committed post-bopper (I wish!), fascinated bythe likes of John Coltrane, EricDolphy and Ornette Coleman.Older jazz styles, well, while Iheld a healthy appreciation forthe big band swing, bebop andWest Coast albums that werethe meat of my father’s recordcollection, they simply didn’t‘connect’. Ben Webster I likedenormously, though, as eventhen in my naive teen ignoranceI could tell he was one of a kind,and this guy, this sleepy-eyeddiminutive white Englishmanplaying alongside Red Allen,blowing tenor with a gorgeoussound and instant swing, Iinstinctively loved him too.

To begin with I hadno real idea why.

Having brutally excised theoriginal compères of Jazz 625 onthese reruns (bye bye, Humphand Steve Race) you had towait until the closing creditsto read the full personnel.Finally there was a name toput with the sound:Al Gay– clarinet and saxophone.

In the latest of our tributes to a great generation of British jazzmusicians SIMON SPILLETT remembers AL GAY

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

REMEMBERING AL GAY

4 THE JAZZ RAG

Al Gay? Really? Although I’dnever heard the famous ‘AllGay’ anecdote, I was youngand dumb enough to findthe surname amusing.

‘Fancy,’ I thought,‘having thatname and playing such robust,masculine tenor?’ If I’d beenintelligent enough at the time,or had anything beyond myschoolboy grasp of language, I’ddoubtless have recognised thiscontrast as a writer’s dream;the opportunity to explorethe paradox of surname andsaxophone style.Anyway, I’mdoing that now, so all is not lost.

By the time I first saw Al Gayplay in person, I’d had a bitbetter measure of who he was,who he’d played with and wherehe stood in the great jigsawpuzzle of British post-war jazz.

In my late teens and earlytwenties I meticulously scouredthe pages of my Dad’s old copiesof Melody Maker and Jazz News,stored in our attic room. Peelingopen their bone dry, saffroncoloured pages, I entered into aworld out of which I’ve not yetstepped some 30 years later.

And it was within this detailed,minutiae-obsessed, near gossip-column-like environment thatI began to see Al Gay’s namedotted around all over the place:on gigs with Alex Welsh and LongJohn Baldry, broadcasts on BBCJazz Club, guest appearancesat boozers across the capital,even tasting pop stardomaccompanying The Animals.

He seemed to be everywhere;one of those fascinating musicalcharacters who you could trackon paper but who seemed sadlyto be invisible on record (thiswas the 1990s, the time whenvintage British jazz was all butunavailable in reissued form).

Like others I first discoveredin this fashion – Stan Robinson,Duncan Lamont,Willie Garnett– I quickly realised that the bestway to find out more was to goand hear them live.After all atthis point, players like this wereall in their fifties and sixties,and they were all still out there,working the provincial jazz clubcircuit, their music available forthe price of a pint and a raffleticket. It was just a case of sitting

and waiting, like a jazz spiderfor the performing fly, or (in mycase) like an overkeen, poorlyequipped, would-be sitter-in.

It would have been around late1995 that I finally saw the nameAl Gay advertised as one ofthe forthcoming attractions atmy local Sunday lunchtime gig– Merlin’s Cave in Chalfont St.Giles. I was a regular attendee,very often with my parents intow (I didn’t drive in those days)and the punters and house trioat the club – which ran in adusty, cobweb-festooned, barnin the pub’s car park – werevariously long-suffering andtolerant of my persistent (andat times downright cringe-worthy) attempts to jam withthe guests. Some of the visitingmusicians were lovely tome – Dick Morrissey, DuncanLamont,Willie Garnett,ArtThemen – others (no names,but in general those who weresmacking against their ownpersonal glass ceilings) were not.

On this Sunday I arrived, tenorcase in hand, determined tosee which side of the fenceAl Gay would fall upon.

At first glance I didn’t recognisehim. Gone was the slim, Beatle-suited saxophonist of Jazz 625.In fact, had he not already beenunpacking his instruments inthe otherwise deserted room,I’d have been hard put to sayhe was a musician at all.A tadpaunchy, with a comb-overhaircut that was positivelyCharltonesque, gold-rimmedtinted glasses perched upon theend of his considerable nose,he looked for all the world likea Hatton Garden jeweller, ora watchmaker, or anything buta world-class jazzman. He wasalso dressed in an open-neckedshirt and a voluminous cardigan– a far cry from the collar andtie I’d seen him in on TV.

Given that there were only me,my parents and him in the room(I was always an early arriver,even back then) it was impossibleto hide my instrument case.Normally, if the club was fillingup, I could squirrel it away in acorner somewhere, or undera seat or behind a curtain, buttoday it was on display, in clearview, unavoidably imposing. Ifelt like Jimmy Durante in that

movie where someone askshim,‘Where are you going withthat elephant?’ and he replies,straight-faced,‘What elephant?’

Al eyed my musical pachydermcase.‘Do you play?’ he said.‘Yes,’ I replied, nervously addingsomething about studying withVic Ash (always a good opener).

‘Oh,Vic, yes. Say hello fromme, won’t you? Oh, and comeup in the second set.’

And that was it.As casual asthat.Al went back to sortinghis clarinet reeds, punctuatedby little snippets of cheeryconversation with my Dad (whocould get a bit of chat out of amanikin if he’d so wanted, suchwas his charming manner).

I sat there, a little stunned.

I’d sat in a fair few times alreadyat Merlin’s but the protocols ofhow to go about it were veryfar from uniform. Sometimesyou’d have to approach the guestdirectly, which I found nerve-wracking in the extreme; oncein a while, you’d be advocatedby one of the house band,depending on who it comprised(the late Bobby Orr wasalways a good one for this).Occasionally, getting a play feltlike bribery by beverage, buyingone of the band a drink at thebar in the interval, eating intothe tenner you’d saved forthe guest artist’s latest CD.But it was never a consistentprocess, no matter how manytimes I succeeded.At times itfelt as if you’d have to completea written application, undergoa physical and complete aThematic Apperception Testbefore you were let anywherenear the bandstand. Join theguest for a few numbers: itwas easier to join the army!

Al’s unfussy invite therefore wasa surprise, but within the initialfew bars of his opening number,I realised that casual was his wayof doing things. I can’t swear byit, but I think he started with TheTouch ofYour Lips, taken at thekind of tempo Ben Webster likedto call, that half-lope which givethe soloist outlining the melodyplenty of time to add little asides.In Al’s case, they were verbaltoo, the first addressed to myparents, sitting right front of him.

Voo voo voo voo voo (playingthe first line of the tune)

‘How am I doin’?’ (spokenbefore the next phrase)

Voo voo voo voooo...

And so it went.Watching Al’sunruffled way with a gig waslike being given a lesson by atrue, old-school, professional.Indeed, it was the kind of gighe’d played all his life: a pick-upband, some choice standards,very little verbal direction.Everything seemed to come easy.

I can’t recall all of what he playedthat afternoon. Poor Butterfly,maybe, on the clarinet? ButNot For Me on tenor, perhaps?But I still can vividly visualisethe utter relaxation of how hedelivered each and every melodyand how his improvisationsseemed to grow organically fromwhichever theme he had chosen.

This was jazz with no effortat all – or rather it was jazzthat showed a lifetime’sworth of learning off thebandstand as well as on, a farcry from some of the ‘on-stagepractising’ ex-NYJO playerswho’d grace the back room ofMerlin’s around this time.

Simon Spillettand Al Gay

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

REMEMBERING AL GAY / I GET A KICK OUT OF…

5THE JAZZ RAG

It was also impossible for me topin down Al’s style (somethingI eventually realised was aload of pointless nonsense,but only when I became aprofessional musician myself).

On clarinet you could hearechoes of Benny Goodmancertainly, but years of playingChicago-style jazz withAlex Welsh and othersinformed it with other,less formal, sensibilities.

On tenor he was even moreunclassifiable. I remember oncereading a review of his soloingon the first Lady SingsThe Bluesalbum (Big Bear’s Billie Holidaytribute package debuted inthe 1980s) that described it as‘Bud Freeman-cum-Al Cohn’and I suppose that’s as gooda description as any in that itoutlined the general swing/mainstream territory in whichhe’d plied most of his trade.

By the point I was hearing himthough, he was simply a great

‘classic’ jazz tenor player, amaster of melodic improvisationon the graceful contours of theGreat American Songbook.

And then it was my turn.

Again, I can’t recall exactlywhat we played together –probably a blues or an I GotRhythm or maybe Lady Be Good- but I remember Al was hugelyencouraging.At this time, mytheoretical knowledge wassketchy to say the least and mytechnical ability – well, how canI put it? Rudimentary at best –but this seemed to matter not.

At Al’s side I encounteredsomething I’d only ever beenprivy to with very specialmusicians, a select few whohave that uncanny inspirationalgift, one which lifts you farabove your limitations andyour silly self-awareness to playmusic rather than a battery oflearned licks. Dick Morrisseywas one.Al was another, andbelieve me, back when you’re

starting out and it all seemsbafflingly incomprehensible,to share even one five minutenumber with someone like thatis transformational, like brieflybrushing the hem of greatness.

At the end of the gig, as wepacked up our horns side by side,I thanked Al.‘That’s alright’, hesaid modestly, shaking mine andmy parents’ hands.‘Any time.’

A few months later that ‘anytime’ arrived and, once again,Al invited me up onto thebandstand at Merlin’s Cave, thistime for the entire second set.Once more, it was an up-closemasterclass in world-class jazzplaying.Years later, someonesent me a set of photographstaken than afternoon, someof which is reproduced here,showing Al, Johnny McLevy(flugelhorn), Peter Hughes(bass), Geoff Cox (drums) andme (pre-suit, you’ll notice).

In some ways, I wish this sighthad sound – not for my own

playing, which at that point wasall over the place – but to onceagain hear Al, at the junctureat which he’d forged all hisinfluences into his own voice.

I know I’d appreciate him allthe more now, now I’ve beenout there ‘doing it’ for years asa professional musician myself.But that’s the thing with jazz:sometimes the lessons deliveredin front of you take an ageto sink in or, if you’re capableenough to grasp them at all, tosurface in your own playing.

And sometimes when thathappens, it’s simply too lateto say ‘thank you’ to thosewho’ve taught them.

So, thank you,Al. Sorryit took so long...

Albert Gay (bornAlbert Goldstein)

February 25th 1928 –October 12th 2013

What track or albumturned you on to jazz?Encouraged by an art teacherwho ran a jazz appreciationsociety at school, the firstjazz album I bought was DaveBrubeck’s Jazz GoesTo College. Iwas fifteen at the time and soonto move on to art college so Iguess it was an inspired choice!I’ve still got the album incidentally- slightly battered and worn.

What was the first jazzgig you went to?This was in 1960s Britain whenthe trad jazz boom was in fullswing.The gig was a smokyupstairs room in the DartmouthHotel,West Bromwich wherelocal heroes The West SideJazz Band were playing to apacked house.When my friendpersuaded the band to letme get up and sing, I was sonervous I sang St. Louis Blueshidden behind the bass player! Ieventually became their vocalist.

What is your favouritejazz album and why?There are many, but Stan Getzand J.J. Johnson atThe Opera Houseticks all the boxes. Recorded inChicago in 1957, this inspiredpairing by Norman Granz,teamed with Oscar Peterson,Herb Ellis, Ray Brown & ConnieKay, captures all the energy andartistry of jazz at its creativebest. Crazy Rhythm, Blues InTheCloset,Yesterdays are stunning andwho needs the lyrics when Getzplays It Never Entered My Mind.

What was the bestjazz performance youhave ever seen?Thanks to our jazz loving artteacher, a party of us from schoolwere taken to see the NormanGranz touring show Jazz At ThePhilharmonic in Birmingham.Seeing the likes of Ella Fitzgerald,Roy Eldridge and OscarPeterson performing on stagemade a big impression on me.

What was the best jazzperformance you’ve seenin the last 12 months?Seeing Art Themen perform at afund raising event in Wokinghamlast November. Ever generous, hegave special features to everyoneon stage and singer-pianist LianeCarroll’s vocal skills, deliveredwith panache and much humour,brought the house down!

What’s your favourite jazzrelease (new or reissue)from the last 12 months?This has to be Lambert,Hendricks & Ross The EarlyYears 1954-59 released on the

Acrobat label last year.Theircleverly multi-tracked vocalarrangements peppered withtongue twisting vocal narrative,serves to remind me how groundbreaking they were in elevatingvocalese into an art-form.

If you could meet one jazzmusician, living or dead,who would it be and why?Billie Holiday; well qualified to betermed a jazz musician and theone singer who impacted on mylife and career more than most.I feel a certain empathy havingpaid tribute to her over theyears in the show Lady SingsTheBlues and would love to get toknow the lady behind the myth.

ValWiseman has been one of thecountry’s finest ever jazz swingsingers for many years – from herearly career with Birmingham’sSecond City Jazzmen through tonational fame, including frontingthe acclaimed Billie Holidaytribute Lady SingsThe Blues.

British Jazz Award winning singer Val Wiseman answers the questions

I GET A KICK OUT OF…

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Photo byMerlin Daleman

DVDS FOR LOCKDOWN

6 THE JAZZ RAG

During this strange periodof history, most people arelargely confined to theirhomes. Sure, one can walkoutside, go grocery shopping,and perhaps take a drive tonowhere, but those hungeringto see live jazz performancesare largely out of luck.

There is live streaming whichsome pianists, guitaristsand singers are able to useto perform for an unseenaudience although most hornplayers have far fewer options.These performances shouldbe supported so at least somemusicians can come closer tomaking a living during this era.And of course there isYouTube.

One can discover many artistsonYouTube which permitsviewers to see, for free, aninfinite number of performances.There are some bad pointswhen comparingYouTube toDVDs. Unless one downloadsit, the clip can disappear in thefuture when it is taken down.Many of the performances areincomplete or erratically filmedand there is an awful lot of junkto plough through in search oftreasures. However it is a greatway to spend hours, and many ofthe jazz artists’ appearances on1950s and ‘60s television showsare not available elsewhere.

But for those who want to own acopy of the best jazz films, therehave been hundreds of rewardingDVDs released through theyears.While less are being issuedthese days thanks toYouTube,there are quite a few that I thinkof as essential for jazz fans.

This article lists 30 of thegreatest jazz DVDs.They wereall available a decade ago and,while some are out-of-print,they can all be found on theinternet with a little bit of asearch.These include a mixtureof performances anddocumentaries, whileleaving out the semi-fictional Hollywood films.

There are many more DVDsthat I would easily recommendbut these 30 come immediatelyto mind and cover a widerange of major performers.The first four are multi-artistcollections and then theremainder is listed inalphabetical order.

(1) AtThe Jazz Band Ball(Yazoo) - 16 of the mostrewarding performances fromthe 1925-33 period are on thisdisc including Duke Ellington’sOld Man Blues, the BoswellSisters, Louis Armstrong (threesongs from 1933 highlighted byDinah), Bessie Smith’s St. LouisBlues, and the first sound film bya jazz band: Ben Bernie’s SweetGeorgia Brown from 1925.

(2) The Greatest Jazz FilmsEver (Efor Films) - This is atwo-DVD film that lives up to itstitle. It includes 1944’s Jammin’The Blues with LesterYoung,Hot House with Charlie Parkerand Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davisin 1958 playing SoWhat withJohn Coltrane and three songswith the Gil Evans Orchestra,Ben Webster, the Ahmad JamalTrio, and the best jazz hourever filmed: The Sound Of Jazz(with Billie Holiday, Red Allen,Coleman Hawkins,TheloniousMonk and many others).

(3) Warner Bros. Big Band,Jazz & Swing (Warner Bros.)- This is a remarkable six-DVDcollection with 63 shorts (11hours) from the 1930s and‘40s including nearly all of thesignificant jazz shorts: ClaudeHopkins, Jimmie Lunceford,Cab Calloway, the SaturdayNight Swing Club,Artie Shaw,Stan Kenton and on and on.

(4) The Complete JazzCasual Series (Efor) - All 28of Ralph Gleason’s Jazz Casualshows from the 1960s are inthis attractive box includingparticularly classic episodesfeaturing the John ColtraneQuartet, Sonny Rollins, MuggsySpanier, Earl Hines,Art Pepper,Gerry Mulligan,Art Farmer-Jim Hall, and three by theWoody Herman Big Band.

(5) Louis Armstrong - Live In‘59 (Jazz Icons) - This DVD givesviewers a rare chance to see afull set by the Louis ArmstrongAll-Stars (with TrummyYoung andPeanuts Hucko), 13 songs in all.

(6) Svend Asmussen(Shanachie) - This includes adefinitive documentary onthe brilliant and humorousjazz violinist plus twohours of rare and completeperformances from 1938-2003.

(7) Count Basie (Swing Era/Idem) - Not only does it containfive songs by the early 1950sBasie Septet with Wardell Gray,Clark Terry, Buddy DeFrancoand Helen Humes, and twonumbers with Jimmy Rushing,but this DVD has the 1940ssoundies of Fats Waller, LouisArmstrong, Big Joe Turner, RedAllen, Gene Krupa, Lucky

Millinder (with SisterRosetta Tharpe), and BillBojangles Robinson.

(8) Art Blakey - Live In ‘58(Jazz Icons) - Imagine seeingthe 1958 version of the JazzMessengers with Lee Morgan,Benny Golson and BobbyTimmons playing Moanin’and six other numbers.

(9) Gary Burton and MakotoOzone (Eagle Eye Media) - From2002, vibraphonist Burton andpianist Ozone pay tribute toseveral vibraphonists, performGershwin’s Concerto In F, and arequite exhilarating on the hard-swinging and joyous Opus Half.

(10) Calle 54 (Miramax) - Thistribute to Afro-Cuban jazzhas 11 inspired performancesby the likes of Michel Camilo,Tito Puente, ChuchoValdes,and Chico O’ Farrill, along withtouching duets by BeboValdeswith his son Chucho and hisold friend bassist Cachao.

(11) The Incomparable NatKing Cole (Kultur) - ThisDVD contains 47 songs fromThe Nat King Cole Show in 1957,filled with a bunch of superiorstandards and memorable guestappearances by Ella, JohnnyMercer (a delightful SaveYourBones For Henry Jones), and theJazz At The Philharmonic All-Stars.

(12) John Coltrane - Live In‘60 & ‘61 & ‘65 (Jazz Icons) –Coltrane with the Wynton KellyTrio (and a unique collaborationwith Stan Getz on Hackensack),his 1961 quintet with Eric Dolphy,and his classic quartet in 1965.What more need be said?

DVDS FOR LOCKDOWN

Louis Armstrong

Roy Eldridge

by SCOTT YANOW

(13) Miles Davis - Birth OfThe Cool (Eagle Rock) - Themany sides of Miles Davis areexplored quite well on thisdefinitive and even-handeddocumentary which is roundedout by a bonus DVD ofmusic from his appearancesat the 1973, 1984 and 1985Montreux Jazz Festival.

(14) Roy Eldridge ‘77 (EagleRock) - It came out originallyas an LP but this very excitingset by Roy Eldridge, OscarPeterson, Niels Pedersen andBobby Durham from the 1977Montreux Jazz Festival deservesto be seen too.The trumpetergoes completely for brokeand the result is one of hislast great performances.

(15) Duke Ellington InHollywood (Idem) - Ellington’sbest early film appearancesare on this DVD including1929’s Black &Tan, Symphony InBlack with a brief appearanceby Billie Holiday, the MaeWest film Belle OfThe Nineties,and other great moments.

(16) Bill Evans -TimeRemembered (Bruce Spiegel)- A superb and continuallyintriguing documentary on theinfluential pianist covering hislife and career, warts and all.

(17) Erroll Garner - InPerformance (Kultur) - Thebrilliant and joyful pianist isfeatured with his trio in 1964on British television showsperforming 18 numbers andmaking it all look so easy.

(18) The Giants Of Jazz -Live In Prague 1971 (Impro-Jazz) – Dizzy Gillespie, KaiWinding, Sonny Stitt,Thelonious

Monk,Al McKibbon, and ArtBlakey perform seven numbersincluding Tour De Force,A NightInTunisia, and Stitt’s feature onEverything HappensTo Me.

(19) Stephane Grappelli - ALife InThe Jazz Century(Music On Earth) - A verywell- conceived two-hourdocumentary on the violinistfrom 2002 plus a full hour ofperformances including the bestfootage that exists of DjangoReinhardt and a short withGeorge Shearing from the 1940s.

(20) A Great Day In Harlem(Image Entertainment) -Jean Bach’s acclaimed andheartwarming film on thefamous jazz photograph ishere plus a second disc filledwith many extra features.

(21) Hiromi - Solo (Telarc) -One of the most dazzling andvirtuosic pianists in jazz today,Hiromi is at her best when sheis performing unaccompaniedsolos as on this memorable setfrom the Blue Note in 2010.She alternates warm ballads(PlaceTo Be) with incredibleshowcases (The Gambler) thatfind her sounding like Art Tatumbut at double the speed!

(22) Billie Holiday -TheGenius Of Lady Day (Efor) -This DVD includes an excellentdocumentary on Billie Holidayalong with all of her mostsignificant filmed performances.

(23) Jazz On A Summer’sDay (NewYorkerVideo) -Even if the camera sometimeswanders, this beautifully filmedcolour film has many of thehighlights of the 1958 NewportJazz Festival including by Louis

Armstrong, Jack Teagarden,Dinah Washington, ChicoHamilton and Anita O’Day (thehighpoint of her career).

(24) Diana Krall - Live InParis (Eagle Eye Media) - Thepopular singer-pianist soundingat her very best a decadeago, performing with herquartet and a large orchestraconducted by Alan Broadbent.

(25) Charles Mingus - LiveIn ‘64 (Jazz Icons) - Minguswith arguably his greatestband, the sextet with EricDolphy, Clifford Jordan, JohnnyColes, Jaki Byard and DannieRichmond, performing on threedifferent occasions in Europe;this is all of the footage thatexists of this unique group andthe music is quite stirring.

(26) Thelonious Monk -Straight No Chaser (WarnerHomeVideo) – One of the finestof all jazz documentaries, thisportrait of Monk lets one seehim on and off stage, performingwith his quartet and short-livedoctet, and even ordering roomservice from his hotel bed.

(27) One Night With BlueNote (Blue Note) - The launchof the revived Blue Note labelafter years of inactivity wascelebrated in 1985 with quitean all-star concert, one thatwas fully filmed and featuredFreddie Hubbard, JoeHenderson, Herbie Hancock,Ron Carter,Tony Williams,Bobby Hutcherson, JamesNewton, Stanley Jordan,Grover Washington Jr, KennyBurrell, Johnny Griffin, McCoyTyner, Jackie McLean,WoodyShaw, Charles Lloyd, MichelPetrucciani, Lou Donaldson,Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentineand Cecil Taylor. It is goodas one would hope.

(28) Louis Prima: In Person(S’More Entertainment) - Theepisodic and colourful career ofthe trumpeter-singer-entertaineris covered.There are manycomplete performances, and1936’s Swing It short (with PeeWee Russell) is a delight.

(29) Ben Webster -TenorSax Legend Live AndIntimate (Shanachie) - Websteris showcased during threeperformances in 1963, 1965and 1969 and throughout thefascinating 1971 documentaryBig Ben. Kenny Drew,TeddyWilson, and Charlie Shaversmake memorable contributions.

(30) Bob Wilber - Jazz AtThe Smithsonian (Shanachie)- Hot jazz from Bob Wilber’sBechet Legacy in 1981 with asextet also featuring trumpeterGlenn Zottola, guitarist ChrisFlory and pianist Mark Shane.

Watch a few of these DVDsand the quarantine will notseem quite so bad.The musicwill never let you down.

ScottYanow, who haswritten 11 books of hisown (including The GreatJazz Guitarists,The JazzSingers, Jazz On Film andJazz On Records 1917-76), can be reached forinteresting assignments atscottyanowjazz@yahoo.com.

Scott wrote this fromCalifornia, so some of thelabels may be different fromthe ones most commonin the UK, but, given thatDVD sales are as global asthe pandemic that launchedthis column, that shouldnot be a problem - butcheck which area appliesto a particular DVD.

DVDS FOR LOCKDOWN

7THE JAZZ RAG

Charles Mingus

Thelonious Monk

8 THE JAZZ RAG

The exceptional musicalprominence of his sons, especiallyWynton, rather served toovershadow Ellis Marsalis Jr.’sexceptional gifts as a pianistand combo leader.Add in hislong-term commitment toteaching and his occupation of anumber of key academic postsin his home town, New Orleans,and his comparative obscurityis more obviously explicable.In later years, having given upacademia, he ventured out moreand more from the CrescentCity, making for Chicago andNewYork, and more occasionallyfor Europe, often recordingwith his sons. It’s in this morerecent period that it has beenpossible to properly evaluate hiskeyboard prowess and stylisticenterprise. Now, with his deathon April 1 in New Orleans atthe age of 85 from complicationsof Covid-19, the public pressesare working overtime to praisehis improvisatory worth andcreativity.That’s not to say thathe was not lauded in his owncity, Mayor LaToya Cantrelldescribing him as ‘the prototypeof what we mean when we talkabout New Orleans jazz.’ Justthat he was rather more thanthe best-known jazz parent.

Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr was bornon 14 November 1934, the sonof Ellis Marsalis Sr., owner ofthe city’s first black-run motel,a haven later on for MartinLuther King and Ray Charlesat the height of the Civil Rightsmovement. His son told me in a1990 interview that he was notpart of the usual New Orleans

musical well-spring – there wereno famous names among hisancestors or relatives – althoughhe recalled city jazz bands visitinghis school, he only came to themusic as a minority interestmuch later on. He had studiedclarinet at first inspired by ArtieShaw and saxophonist HermanRiley remembered him as atenor-saxophonist when Ellis’shigh school band was given abroadcast. But it was hearingDizzy Gillespie’s imposing BigBand in New Orleans in 1949that decided him on his pathin life: ‘That was for me. I knewthat’s what I’d like to do,’‘ he said.

After studying classical piano andclarinet at the Xavier Universityjunior school of music fromthe age of eleven, his emergingprowess as a teenage jazzpianist brought him more andmore calls to play. In 1955, heearned his bachelor’s degree inmusic education from DillardUniversity in New Orleans,thus setting in motion a near-lifetime teaching career, withoutever sacrificing the need anddesire to perform. Drawn tojazz modernism in a city whereDixieland ruled the day, Marsalissoon affiliated with the youngermore progressive players amongthe city’s African-Americancommunity; he was a keymember of the co-operative AllFor One [AFO] collective whichmorphed into the American JazzQuartet, their recordings much-prized, the drummer EdwardBlackwell a crucial influence.

When Blackwell made forLos Angeles in 1956, Ellis andhis life-long friend and fellowjazz academic, clarinetist AlvinBatiste, followed him for asummer sojourn, hanging outwith Ornette Coleman andsitting in before Ellis enlisted inthe US Marine Corps in January1957. Rather remarkably, as amember of the Corps Fourstationed in Southern California,he played regularly on theMarine-sponsored TV showDress Blues and a radio seriescalled Leatherneck Songbook.Home from 1959, he marriedDolores Ferdinand – theirmarriage enduring for 58 yearsuntil her death in 2017 - withwhom he went on to have sixsons,Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo,and Jason each excelling inmusic and jazz in particular.

After two years as a schoolband and choral director atBreaux Bridge, invitingly knownas ‘The Crawfish Capital of theWorld’, Ellis and family settledagain in New Orleans and heplayed from 1967 as part ofAl Hirt’s jazz entourage, alsotouring quite widely with theportly trumpeter and appearingon TV, before working as anadjunct professor back at Xavier.He then spent the next twelveyears from 1974 at the NewOrleans Center for Creative Artshigh school as an instrumentalteacher with a jazz studies bias.Clearly concerned to developboth his music and teachingcredentials, he gained a Master’sdegree at Loyola Universityunder the GI Bill in 1986.

His effectiveness as an instructorcan be judged by the calibre ofstudents who prospered underhis tuition, these including sonsWynton and Branford,TerrenceBlanchard, Donald Harrison,Nicholas Payton, bassist ReginaldVeal and Marsalis-boosterHarry Connick.After two yearsatVirginia CommonwealthUniversity in Richmond, he joinedthe faculty of the University ofNew Orleans in 1989 where hebecame the founding directorof its Jazz Studies department,the challenge being to combine‘core curriculum development,

while dealing with the businessof putting a group together,the business of playing, oftrying to write, all these kindof things,’ he told me.

He also recorded duringthis period with CannonballAdderley’s group, formed hisown ELM record label andoffered jazz listeners in the cityan alternative to wall-to-wallDixieland, always maintaining hisrole as a ‘working musician’.Ashe explained, traditional jazz hadlargely passed him by in – blackswere not allowed in the whiteDixieland clubs on BourbonStreet in his day – although heplayed the traditional repertoirequite often later on. Indeed myfirst sighting of Ellis was when hetoured Europe with the HeritageHall All-Stars in his summerbreak; happily later encounterssaw him fronting his own hardbop quintets, each of the highestclass, and usually involving sonJason on drums.They became aFriday-night fixture at the SnugHarbor club on Frenchman’sStreet until just recently, hisexpansive,Tyner-esque styleplacing him firmly in the hardbop category.A key figure in thecity’s French Quarter Festivaland Jazz Fest lineups, he becamevastly more valued once hissons gained world-wide fame,recording for Blue Note andColumbia, sometimes with familymembers, also collaborating herewith Courtney Pine in 1989.

A stern disciplinarian inmatters of music, I foundhim to be approachable, butalways concerned to maintainthe highest musical standards.As Branford said,‘He pouredeverything he had into making usthe best of what we could be.’ In2011, in a rare honour, Marsalisand his sons were named NEAJazz Masters as a group.The EllisMarsalis Center for Music in theMusiciansVillage in New Orleansmay stand in his memory, butin truth, his true legacy lies isin the continuing jazz workof his sons and the manymusicians he tutored duringhis brilliant academic career.

Pianist/educator/parent by PETER VACHER

ELLIS MARSALIS Jr.ELLIS MARSALIS Jr.

9THE JAZZ RAG

The jazz guitar world lost alegend on April 1st when JohnPaul ‘Bucky’ Pizzarelli lost hisbattle with Covid-19, a trulysad end to a long and full life.Bucky was 94 years old. His wifeof 66 years, Ruth, passed awayjust one week later aged 89.

Despite being relatively unknownto the wider jazz audience Buckywas, nevertheless, a giant in theguitar world as an acknowledgedmaster of the style known as‘chord melody’. In a nutshell,this is a process of harmonisingeach melody, or solo, note witha three or four note chordunderneath; something thathas become a rare art thesedays as guitar players focusmore on single-note playing.

Its origins lay in the innovationsof 1920’s genius Eddie Lang andwas later developed by suchartists as Dick McDonough,Carl Kress and Allan Reuss.With the invention of theamplifier and the emergence ofCharlie Christian, the techniquesomewhat fell by the wayside asguitarists could now competewith the frontline horn playersin terms of volume and attack.

However, some players continuedthe tradition notably GeorgeVan Eps who also added anextra bass string to his guitargiving the instrument evenmore harmonic possibilities.It was the 7-string instrumentthat Bucky also specialised inand it remains a rare beast withthe notable exception ofVan

Eps’s protegé, and close friendof Bucky’s, Howard Alden.

Bucky turned professionalin 1944 joining the danceorchestra led byVaughnMonroe. By 1952 he was a staffmusician at NBC and, by 1964,was a member of the JohnnyCarson Tonight Show band.It’s this long and fruitful careeras a ‘studio’ musician thatarguably kept Bucky out ofthe jazz limelight despite thefact that he was a nimble,graceful and swinging soloist asdemonstrated to great effect inhis appearances on record awayfrom his studio commitments.Between 1962 and 2007 herecorded over 30 solo albumsand 40 others as a sideman.Each demonstrates a completeencyclopaedic knowledge of theguitar fretboard sitting alongsidean innate musical sense thatfound him always playing theright thing at the right time.

Never one to be ‘clever’ forthe sake of it; Bucky would beequally happy playing FreddieGreen-style rhythm guitar ashe would demonstrating whata gifted improviser he was.

I remember one night, manyyears ago, when Bucky wason the bill at a guitar festival.Leading up to his set were aprocession of incredible youngguns each showing how far theguitar had come as a jazz voicesince its early years as a strictlychordal/rhythm instrument.Asthe evening progressed things

got louder, faster and evermore frantic. Finally, the timehad come for Bucky to takethe stage. He took his seat,said a few polite words to theaudience and counted off amedium tempo swinging versionof, if my memory serves, It HadTo BeYou. It was at least half thevolume of what had come before.Within 8 bars of his first melodystatement my friend turned tome and whispered ‘He’s justmurdered all those kids!’

Of course, this was said as ajoke, but, underneath it liesa truth that many young jazzmusicians could learn a lot from.Music, to Bucky and those ofhis ilk, was never a competitivepursuit. He never felt the needto prove that he had incredible‘chops’ although he mostcertainly did! He never feltthe need to outplay anybody.One is reminded of what LouisArmstrong said about jammingafter hours with Bix Beiderbecke;something along the lines of, ‘Wejust wanted to see how beautifulwe could make the music.’

Bucky always had the greatestrespect for the melody of anygiven tune. His improvisationaldrive was always melodic.As amaster of chord substitutionhe could easily have let thatoverpower the integrity ofthe melody but he never did.Every embellishment of thebasic harmonic sequence wasemployed to enhance the melody;his substitutions, however‘alternate’ they could be, wouldalways include the melody note.Like Wes Montgomery, one ofthe few other real masters ofchord soloing, Bucky employedthe device to help build his solosto the eventual climax. He couldhave taken the chord away and,left with just the top note, onewould still hear a valid jazz line.

Bucky was a generous man,always eager and willing toshare his fretboard knowledgewith young guitarists.To him,it was a duty to pass it on andhelp the next generation. Hecertainly spent more time thanI’d asked of him that night atthe guitar festival when I naively

enquired,‘How do you find allthose chords across the neck?’He patiently spoke to me, atlength, about the need to learn asmany inversions as I could in allkeys and ended with somethingthat I’ve never forgotten,‘But,don’t forget the melody!’

It’s no surprise that Buckyfound himself so in-demand as asession guitarist recording andcollaborating with everyonefrom Frank Sinatra to PaulMcCartney,Aretha Franklinto Benny Goodman and anendless list of diverse musicalsituations in between.

After the Tonight Show relocatedto California in the early 1970’sBucky stayed home, becominga mainstay of the NewYorkjazz scene and was a frequentpresence at many of the city’sclubs, one of which,The Guitar,featured him in duo with anotherguitar great, George Barnes.Bucky also worked the NewYork scene regularly with thelikes of Stéphane Grappelli,JoeVenuti, Bud Freeman andZoot Sims before forming aguitar duo with his son John in1980. John has since becomeworld famous but Bucky, with atrademark glint in his eye said,‘He got his baptism of fire withme giving him dirty looks whenhe played the wrong chord!’

Bucky and John were often joinedby Martin Pizzarelli, Bucky’sbass-playing son along with John’svocalist wife Jessica Molaskey; agroup Bucky described as ‘theVon Trapp family on Martinis!”

The lineage of Jazz guitar hasoften been whittled down tothree players, Django Reinhardt,Charlie Christian and WesMontgomery. Despite theirundisputed right to occupy mostof the headlines on the subjectthe likes of Bucky Pizzarellishould never be forgottenespecially as his philosophy wassomething we all should adhereto.As guitarist Ed Laub stated,‘It’s about making beautiful music.It’s not about grandstanding.That’s what Bucky’s wholepersonality is about.’

Seven-string guitar genius by DENNY ILETT

BUCKY PIZZARELLI

BUCKY PIZZARELLI

I was saddened to hear ofclarinettist/bandleader DickLaurie’s succumbing to coronavirus over the Easter weekend.I had known him since themid-80s when I first playedtrombone in his Elastic Band asa replacement for Jim Shepherdalongside cornetist Dick Williams.My friend Alan Cooper hadrecommended me since he andDick Laurie were old friendsand he often appeared alongsidehim as a featured member ofthe Elastix. Dick’s band hada Condon-style approach,reflecting his love of Pee WeeRussell, and he had a devotedlocal following, particularly inhis weekly residency at theJolly Gardeners in Putney.It was a pleasure to work withDick Williams, but his work as

a leading film animator led tohis departure. Brian Jones tookover and was a fine lead, witha special talent for making theband sound as if it rehearsed-which it never did! At one timethere was a 3-piece reed teamaugmented by the booting tenorsax of Ivor Elliot and the rhythmsection, latterly with Diz Disley,John Rees-Jones and Rex Bennett,was an ideal combination.

Memorable gigs included takingpart in an evening at the RoyalAlbert Hall and playing a weekat the Hong Kong Jazz Club.Theband also broadcast on Radio2. Dick and I were asked to beconsultants for the first LeedsCastle Jazz Festival in Kent inthe mid-90s and we were proudto bring the great Anita O’Day

over from Los Angeles for one ofthe concerts. Dick also becameconsultant to John Bune’s Zephyrrecords and helped with theproduction of a long series ofCDs featuring distinguishedpianist Brian Lemon with manyleading instrumentalists includingRuby Braff, George Masso,WarrenVache, Howard Alden,Tony Coe and Alan Barnes.

During this time Dick wasfollowing his `proper job’ inadvertising and journalismand editing the Soho Clarionfor the Soho Society as wellas irregularly publishing hisidiosyncratic creation Hot NewsInternational which started as theband’s newsletter, but, inspired byhis urbanely literate wit, becamethe Private Eye of the jazz scene.

Its masthead proudly proclaimed`The Untraditional Jazz Magazine’and it lived up to this principle,delighting its faithful subscribersworldwide for over 30 years.

In recent times The ElasticBand continued their residencyat the Half Moon, Putney,and Dick featured suchaccomplished musicians asJanusz Carmello, Mike Hogh,Alan Berry and Paul Sealey.

Dick Laurie’s personal charm,his sophisticated humour andspecial gift for bringing out thebest in his fellow musicianswill be much missed.

Dick Laurie1935-2020 RIP

Dick was always a good friend to Jazz Rag as he was to most people in British jazz who took the music more seriouslythan themselves. From time to time he wrote for us in his quirky, but deeply knowledgeable style, we regularly stolesome of the best bits of Allegedly Hot News and, in return, he practised grand larceny on our pages.As recently asJazz Rag 160, we devoted half a page to the joys of what proved to be his final Allegedly Hot News, including the nowpoignant quotation from Dick himself,‘We need more subscribers due to the regrettable habit some of you have ofleaving the building.’

Now that Dick has left the building, thus reducing the gaiety of nations, we celebrate him not only with Mike’s obituary,but also with personal tributes from DIGBY FAIRWEATHER andVAL WISEMAN.

Anyone who ever met DickLaurie would come awaydeclaring themselves the happierto have made his acquaintance.Gentle, benignly quizzical, withan observant – yet humorouslyaccommodating - view of theworld, he was as good companyoff the stand as he was playinghis soft-toned mellifluousclarinet which always remindedme of the great Joe Marsala.Over the years singers andvisiting sitters-in - as well ashis premier-league residentmusicians - were ever-welcomeat Dick’s sessions at The HalfMoon Putney. He was a truly kindhuman being, a champion of theunderdog and a loyal friend. HisAllegedly Hot News was, in a sense,an in-print summation of the manhimself and his attitude to life;containing as it did fine writingsby author-commentators whosometimes chose to operatebelow the radar of the shinier

more fashionable jazz magazinesbut who knew the jazz scenefrom the inside and wroteabout it with true perception,appreciation and humour.

We both delighted in the factthat, early in the existence ofAHN its paid subscriptionfrom the National Jazz Archivewas abruptly terminated by acensorious senior Essex CountyCouncil official who had spottedan advertisement for sex-aids onits centre pages; Dick delightedin the fact and kept the letter asa proud trophy! Over the yearsI played many times with himat the Half Moon and the lasttime was, in fact, the last sessionbefore Dick passed away.At hisinvitation I was going to re-jointhe Elastic Band after years whenthe great Janusz Carmello hadheld down the trumpet chairbut now it can’t happen andno-one is more sorry than I.

So upset to learn of Dick Laurie’spassing. I first met him shortlyafter I moved to Twickenhamin 2001 when I visited theHalf Moon in Putney to hearhis famous Elastic Band. I sangwith the band on numerousoccasions over the years rightup to the summer of 2019.Dick was a gentleman, graciousand charming, but always with atwinkle in his eye and a waspishsense of humour which often

spilled over onto the pages ofhis legendary jazz magazineAllegedly Hot News. He wasthe jazz musician’s champion,always supportive and evergenerous and I always feltvery privileged to be countedamongst those he championed.

He will be much missedby his many friends andmusicians who belong to thisunique jazz fraternity. Dickwas always at its heart.

DICK LAURIE

10 THE JAZZ RAG

Remembered by MIKE POINTON

DICK LAURIE

Dick Lauriewith Kenny Ball

Digby Fairweather Val Wiseman

11THE JAZZ RAG

NOT JUST A BEGINNER

Sinne Eeg’s new album on StuntRecords, We’ve Just Begun,was released earlier this yearto considerable acclaim.

Since graduating from the EsbjergAcademy of Music in 2003, SinneEeg has staked a fair claim to beScandinavia’s top jazz singer. Fourtimes, between 2007 and 2015,she has been awarded the DanishVocal Album of theYear, on thelast two occasions for releaseson Stunt Records. We’ve JustBegun seems likely to add to thelist, judging by the reactions ofsuch wise critics as Dave Gellywho wrote that, in addition tomastery of such requirements astime and intonation, she has ‘anattractive flexible voice, sings andwrites songs in two languagesand improvises perfect wordlessscat.’ As is by no means alwaysthe case, her own tunes, hewrote, are ‘proper melodies’.

Sinne describes her early careeras being ‘a transition from beingan amateur from the age of4’ to going on gigs with herfather’s family band at the ageof 18. Interestingly, when I askedabout her early influences, shebegan by listing instrumentalists,ones that her father introducedher to, a wide range includingStan Getz, Oscar Peterson andKeith Jarrett.When she begansinging, her ‘first idol’ was NancyWilson and her impeccable jazzpedigree comes out in suchinfluences as SarahVaughan,AnitaO’Day, Betty Carter and DinahWashington, great singers invery different styles as she wentthrough what she calls ‘phases’of appreciation.Though, as sheputs it, her address has alwaysbeen Denmark, she has trulybeen an international performerthroughout her career:

‘Right after graduating fromthe conservatory, I touredJapan and China – and laterin Europe.At one time I hada three month residency inShanghai which became mysecond home – and for the lastsix or seven years I’ve regularlytoured the United States.’

Sinne performs a judicious mix ofstandards and her own material,with a range of different lyricists:

‘When I write music, I writemusic. I don’t see myself as asongwriter, though sometimesI get lucky and write a lyric I’msatisfied with.When I don’t knowwhat to do with a melody, I tryto think what sort of lyrics wouldfit. I have a very good colleague,Soren Sko, who is more of a popand folk singer and he can writelyrics that linger in the mind,so, when I write something notso jazzy, I ask him. I have otherwriters for tunes that soundmore like jazz evergreens. I havedifferent reasons for choosingstandards – maybe I’m looking forsomething specific or I like thechord changes or I’ve just hearda great version that inspiredme – but both the melody andthe words must be interesting.I have to communicate withthe audience, so the wordsmust mean something to me.’

Being a singer whose firstlanguage is not the first languageof jazz presents a challenge.Sinne sings in both Danish andEnglish.The musical language ofDanish songs is not naturallysuited to jazz, she believes, butover the years she has found‘a good way of making sense ofDanish songs in jazz terms.’

Unusually, We’ve Just Begun findsher accompanied by the DanishRadio Big Band, rather than asmall group.What, I wonder, doesshe look for in an accompanist?

‘I like an accompanist whoknows me and knows he cantrust me – I don’t want to behanded everything on a silverplate. I like to be challenged andsurprised and I like to feel I amhaving a conversation. JacobChristoffersen who I’ve workedwith many years is so skilled, agreat listener. He knows howto back a singer and he knowshow little he can play. I alsoreally enjoyed working withLarry Goldings – we did a duoconcert in LA and that man ispure music. It’s all about goodtaste, elegance and creativity.

‘With a big band it’s different.You can improvise, but there is aframe and you can’t break out ofthe arrangement. In a small groupsomebody can come up withsomething different and all the

others follow.That’s not possiblewith a big band, but there isso much power and precisionwhen you have five saxophones,five trombones, five trumpetsand rhythm playing together– it gives me goosebumps.Agood arranger can get so manycolours with a big band.’

When discussing the arrangerson the album, it’s noticeablethat Sinne always talks aboutworking co-operatively together:with the likes of Peter Jensen (‘afantastic big band arranger, socreative, the way he harmonisesis inspiring’) and Roger Newman(‘a good friend who actuallygot me to the States for thefirst time and a legend whoarranged for Ray Charles,Buddy Rich and Count Basie’).

Looking back over a prolificrecording career Sinne Eegrecalls that, when she started,the idea was to create conceptalbums, otherwise the fearwas that nobody would writeabout you! To her, however, theidea of a theme or concept hasnever appealed.The differencesbetween her albums are more ofa matter of who she chooses toplay with, from duo to big band.

Her open-mindedness,unwillingness to be pigeon-holed, shows in her responseto a question she finds difficult:what sort of a singer is she? Inthe vocal jazz tradition, certainly,and she can swing definitely, butshe also likes to vary her styleto sing folk or country – andin the end comes up with anhonest and modest answer:

‘I use my ears and try to fit inwith the rest of the band.’

Among Sinne’s many awardspossibly the most prestigiousis the Ben Webster Prizewhich she received in 2014,coincidentally the year afterher long-time associate JacobChristoffersen. Ben Websterlived in Denmark for manyyears and, as Sinne explains,after his death a foundationwas set up to make sure thathis accumulated royalties wereused for the benefit of jazzmusicians in Denmark. Part of thefoundation’s work is to honour a

musician each year who reflectsthe true spirit of jazz: as Sinnesays, many great Danish musicianshave received the prize, fromJesper Thilo in 1977 onwards.

When we spoke, Denmark wasfurther down the road than theUK, beginning to emerge fromthe coronavirus lockdown, butSinne sees the immediate futureas difficult for internationaltouring, something that hasbeen a key part of her career.She makes the point that it’snot essential for the lyrics to bein the audience’s first languagefor them to be appreciated,but she finds that Americans‘know jazz on a different level.’However, clearly her favouritecountry for touring remainsJapan for a mixture of musicaland personal reasons:

‘Audiences are so dedicatedand responsive and touring isso comfortable. Everything isperfectly arranged and the foodis superb.Venues always havegreat pianos and sound systems.’

Despite the difficulties ahead,Sinne remains positive,performing regular on-lineconcerts, full of ideas for thingsshe wants to record and peopleshe wants to record withand – in more general terms –delighted that there are so manyfine young jazz singers to ‘keepthe tradition alive and fresh.’

www.sinnemusic.com

RON SIMPSON

NOT JUST A BEGINNER

12 THE JAZZ RAG

ADVENTURES IN THE INTERVIEWING GAME

It was reading celebrityinterviewer Lynn Barber’s recentmemoir A Curious Career that setme thinking about the marginallymore curious idea of making aliving out of interviewing jazzmusicians.Where she seeks tonail the character of her subjects,often exposing their foibles andlooking for revelatory moments,my aim has always been just toget the facts. Usually the jazzfacts, at that. Her emphasis hassometimes has been on thecomedic; mine has not. Shedebunks; I don’t. I prefer tobuild rather than to dismantle.

Having started this caper as farback as 1959, I tallied up the totalof my targets.Well in excess of250, these encounters havingtaken place in England,Wales,never Scotland, but also France,Spain, Switzerland, Holland, andthe US, of course.And now, incyber-space too. Initially it wasalways American musicians whosestories intrigued me; latterly ithas mostly been local playerswhose views and experiencesI’ve sought to represent.To put itin a nutshell, that’s just a matterof market forces.There arefewer outlets now, if any at all,for the kind of lengthy ‘as-told-to’ career-stories that I starteddoing so one has had to adapt tothe preferred interview-featureformat. More on that anon.

Picture the scene. Like many inmy pre-Beatles generation, I’d

fallen heavily for jazz.Traditionaljazz.We’d bought the records, asfew as there then were, starteda band and tracked down everybook and jazz periodical wecould. It was the writings ofmy heroes Max Jones,AlbertMcCarthy and Stanley Dance thatset me off on the path that haspersisted.As they concentratedon documenting the lives of USmusicians mostly, and African-Americans in the majority, I beganto feel an almost religious zealto do the same. I liked detailingobscure band personnels andrecording recollections of timesgone by. Good and bad. Muchof this seemed to chime withthe then dominant struggle forCivil Rights in America, again acause which consumed manyof us, albeit at a distance.

I’d started sending news snippetsto Max for his column in MelodyMaker and summoned up thenerve to ask him where the BuckClayton All-Stars were staying.They were here on tour in 1959as part of a Newport package.Toting a borrowed tape recorder,a reel-to-reel job the size of asmall suitcase and with my friendIan and his camera, off we set forCentral London. Unannouncedand unprepared. I think it wasto Airways Mansions, just offOxford Street. Spotting drummerHerbie Lovelle in the lobby, wesuggested a chat; no, he said,cordially, he was off out, but weshould try Al Williams, the band

pianist. Room no XYZ.Alarmingly,Mr.Williams was still in his night-attire as he greeted us : memoto putative interviewer, don’t callon touring musicians at 11.00amon a Sunday morning. Still, hegreeted us warmly, quicklychanged and agreed to talk,before equally alarmingly, offeringus a mid-morning Scotch.Thiswe declined and then set up therecorder, only to find that we’dfailed to bring its microphone.Hence the need to take downAl’s reminiscences in my primitiveshorthand. Photos were staged,Al happy to put on his banduniform and at his suggestionwe set off for an Indian meal.

Writing the piece from my notesand seeing it in print in Coda,the fine Canadian magazine, wasenormously gratifying. Even moreso when Al confirmed that it wasaccurate, something of a miracleconsidering the amateurishnessof our approach. I continuedto place interview features andother pieces with Coda until themagazine folded.There followeda long sequence of similarforays; Sunday mornings mostly,and increasingly successful,this despite the same vast taperecorder jamming when weinterviewed Basie trumpeterFip Ricard.A hand-held cassettetape recorder then supplantedthe suit-case and its unobtrusivesize proved a boon: until ArtFarmer rejected it as inadequateand decided our interviewcassette should be transferredto his superior machine. Sadly, hefailed to switch it on. Data lost.

Encountering veteran tenor-saxophonist Benny Waters inParis in the early 1960s wassomething of a gamechanger forme. Bowled over by his playing,I published the first full accountof his life in Jazz Monthly andhelped, I like to think, to alertBritish audiences to his nearbyavailability. Happily, we becamefriends and I wrote a steadystream of features about him,mostly for Melody Maker, towhich I had become a regularcontributor.Another happymeeting was with clarinetistJoe Darensbourg, to whom I’dbeen writing for some years,

and whom I welcomed inperson when he came overto the UK in 1962 with LouisArmstrong and the All-Stars.It was Joe who introducedme to Louis backstage: I didn’twash that hand for a month!

We talked then on tape andagain when Joe returned with theLegends of Jazz, and spoke aboutcollaborating on a book about hismusical life. Meanwhile, I wrotefeature pieces on him and hiscompatriots, like trumpeter AndyBlakeney, these conversationsusually pre-arranged and involvinghotel visits. Indeed, I becamesomething of an expert onmusicians and their hotel rooms,neat or shambolic; also learningto time my arrival at an hourto suit, one such visit precededby a departing lady friend.

Ed Thigpen politely declined ourrequest for an interview, but heoffered us tea; Illinois Jacquetand his wife, over-refreshed,were out cold when I called byappointment; it was a further20 years before we managedthe promised interview, this at2.00am in Birmingham over afish supper.Tenor honker JoeHouston, holed up in a flea-pitmotel in Hertfordshire, felt too illto talk after all; even so, he madeit to the 100 Club that night forthe gig.The show had to go on.New Orleans banjoist FatherAl Lewis, staying at an equallymoth-eaten West London hotel,wanted 1000 dollars up front, butrelented; again the Melody Makercarried the resulting article.

By now, my earlier wide-eyedand sometimes naïve enthusiasmhad been tempered by a degreeof professionalism. I learned howto structure an interview pieceand above all, wherever possibleto undertake some researchbefore an appointment.As withArt Blakey, at Melody Maker’sbehest, the great man fresh infrom his run round Hyde Parkwho proceeded to give me hisstandard interview, only pausingwhen I began to probe hisearly involvement with FletcherHenderson.‘How did you knowabout that?’, he asked, surprised.Research, dear sir, research.

by PETER VACHER

ADVENTURES IN THE INTERVIEWING GAME

Photo by Robert Burns

13THE JAZZ RAG

ADVENTURES IN THE INTERVIEWING GAME

Covering festivals: Nice aboveall, North Sea,Ascona, Marbella,Vienne, Los Angeles, Londonfestivals too, all proved fruitfuleven if Fats Domino tenoristHerb Hardesty couldn’t keephis eyes off the nubile younglady seated alongside him in thehotel lounge in Ascona despitepromising to speak to me abouthis early days in New Orleans bigbands. Interview abandoned, withapologies. It’s worth recallingthat many festival interviews aswith those in London with Basie,Ellington and Mingus big bandsidemen were relatively easyto arrange.A quick back-stagechat, an agreed time, and thesemusicians were happy to talk.Soloists like WarrenVaché, KennyDavern,Teddy Edwards and ScottHamilton spent lengthy periodshere and were pleased to speakwith a journalist, the unwrittenexpectation that their thoughtsand comments would one daysee print. I was happy to oblige.

Mind you, sometimes theinterviews were more scrambledaffairs: I taped bassist JohnnyWilliams on the staircase atPizza Express Dean Street, spoketo pianist Renee Rosnes in thecorridor by the ladies in theBrecon’s Market Hall, to Blakeybassist Jymie Merritt on the bandbus driving to Hammersmithand to pianist Sammy Pricebackstage at the Grapes WineBar in London in what turnedout to be the linen cupboard.He didn’t seem to mind as I satcrouched on a pile of table-cloths. Ellis Marsalis insistedwe converse over breakfast athis Hague hotel, as did GeorgeAuld.Why not? Somehowor other, worthwhile articlesalways seemed to emerge.

Still, don’t let this apparent rushof success go to your head,one might say: I interviewedthe ever-agreeable Hank Jonesat North Sea in The Hague.Adelightful experience, as wasa similar meet-up with tenor-man Plas Johnson in the DeanStreet flat in London.Thesepieces duly published, I madesure Jones and Johnson sawthem: re-encountering both menyears later, they had absolutelyno memory of our ever havingmet. Or of the articles. Oh,well! Others, like Jay McShanngave me an interview only to

hold back on detail with theirown putative books in mind.Mind you, his never appeared.

Back to Darensbourg. Nowdetermined to create a bookabout his highly picaresque life,I went over to Los Angeles tostay with him for a memorablefortnight in 1979, just 20 yearsafter our first contact. Basically,it was a matter of taping hisreminiscences, working throughhis scrapbooks, visiting associatesand gathering the essence of hislife story. Some days, this worked;others it didn’t. Often the realanecdotes would only come outonce I’d put the tape recorderaway. I learned with Joe to keepthe recorder handy: we taped inthe car as he drove, we taped inthe supermarket as we went upand down the aisles, we tapedlate, we taped early. Quite oftenwe recorded aspects of his story,especially the more scurrilouspassages, well out of ear-shot ofhis quite strait-laced wife Helen.The resulting book was entitledTelling It Like It Is and I was proudthat that was just what it did.Frank and direct, like Joe.Whilewith him in sunny California, Ibegan to meet others of theLA-based New Orleans musicaldiaspora and added yet moreinterviews to the pile, someof which surfaced in my mostrecent book Swingin’ on CentralAvenue; others dating from mytwo later LA research trips arescheduled for its successor.

I also learned that on occasionan interview is simply too dullto sell or that one has arrivedtoo late. Down deep in SouthCentral Los Angeles, ex-drummerCarl Johnson’s fading memorymade our interview null andvoid. More of concern, I couldn’tget a taxi to come to that partof town to pick me up. Up inBerkeley, California, elderlyretired trumpeter Ike Bellwas similarly apologetic.As hiswife said, handing us a glass ofhome-made lemonade,‘We’rejust falling apart.’ Timing is all.Veteran trumpeter Alton Grant,a key LA figure, said he couldn’tleave his sick wife and ex-Parkerpianist Jimmie Bunn refused tosee us, cursing his involvement inmusic. Other intriguing playerswere out of town or sadly,failed to show for an appointedinterview. Each time I arrived inLos Angeles with my shopping

list of subjects it was to learnthat I was either out of luck orthat individuals had moved away.Still, serendipity being what it is,other opportunities opened upand new names came to the fore.

These days, the cassette recorderis mostly back in the drawer,as interviews with visiting USplayers or local hot-shots aremostly realized through e-mailquestioning, this seeming towork rather well. Some localshave been prepared to come tome rather than me go to them.Visiting American players areseldom in London for more thanday or two – no long sojournsso no impromptu meetings. It’soften a matter now of fixingan interview via a PR person.I was the fifth journalist inthe queue to quiz one top USsinger a few years back. 45minutes and you’re out.Today’smedia usually seek a hook toprompt a musician profile: anew album, a new tour, or a newgroup.Anything newsworthy.

I managed when working forboth the Melody Maker andJazz UK to track down veteranBritish players and tell someof their stories. I was alsofortunate enough to be partof the team that interviewedsignificant British jazz figuresfor the National Sound ArchiveOral History of British Jazz – eachinterview running for somefour or five hours with an NSAcolleague on hand to lookafter the audio side. Bliss!

If that’s the icing on the cake, fairenough. Mind you, the fundingfor that project has now ceased.Once there was a plethora ofoutlets: today there are few.

Operating essentially as a printjournalist, I’ve written for moredefunct magazines, here andin the US and Canada, thanseems wholly decent and seenthe general interest in writingabout jazz much diminished.Where once I wrote a dozen jazzobituaries a year for the Guardiannewspaper, now I’m lucky if I getone in per year. Most suggestionsare declined. Pop and rockcarry the day. Reflections? Theinvariable courtesy affordedme by interviewees, many ofwhom have had to take mypresence in their homes on trust.The delight that comes whena subject declares themselvessatisfied with what one haswritten – I was touched whentwo veterans told me they’dframed my articles about themand hung them on the wall.

In the end, it’s all about nosinessreally, benign curiosity, youcould call it, coupled witha desire to document fast-disappearing aspects of thejazz story before it’s too late. Iwas always intrigued to knowwhat made these often lesser-known musicians tick.And tounderstand how they copedwith the precarious business ofplaying jazz for a living.As fortoday’s players, they have a storyto tell, too, and deserve our timeand attention. So for now, as afreelance writer, I’m on call togo where editors want me togo. Interviews, yes, but reviewsand features like this one, too

It’s been quite a ride so far.Have I enough material foranother book? Possibly. Is therea potential publisher? Unlikely.

AlWilliams Photo byIan Powell

14 THE JAZZ RAG

ALL WHAT JAZZ?

On December 2nd, 2016, amonument to Philip Larkin wasdedicated in Westminster Abbey’sPoets’ Corner.The Order ofService for the Dedication ofthe Memorial has one or twojolly-sounding speakers orreaders – such as Grayson Perryand Sir Tom Courtenay – butgenerally it is heavy with suchtitles as the Dean of Westminsterand the President of the PhilipLarkin Society.The words of theprayers are printed in full andthe congregation is regularlyinstructed to stand or sit.Then the second of the poemsread by Sir Tom is followedby the solemn injunction,

All remain seated for:Riverside BluesKing Oliver (1881-1938)

The poem that preceded itwas Reference Back. Larkin wasfamous for his unsatisfactory(the word comes four times inthe poem) relationship with hisparents and the poem deals withthe visit of a youngish Larkinto his mother during which hedoes little more than stay in hisroom and play records.‘Thatwas a pretty one,’ his mothercalls to him. It’s Oliver’s RiversideBlues and ‘the flock of notes theantique Negroes blew’ forms atemporary bridge between ‘your(his mother’s) unsatisfactory ageand my unsatisfactory youth.’

Jazz certainly had a greatemotional power for Larkin. It’sremarkable that the finest ofhis slim volumes of poetry, TheWhitsunWeddings, contains twopoems inspired by jazz, the otherdedicated to Sidney Bechet, aperpetual favourite of Larkin’s.

So he was one of the goodguys, taking a knowledgeableenthusiasm about jazz into thegroves of academe? Well, upto a point. Since his death in1985 Larkin has been a figure ofcontroversy as the establishmenttried to come to terms with hismisogyny, love of pornographyand bursts of Blimpishness, butthe controversy about Larkin thejazz writer started rather earlier.

Self-isolating at home, I began

pottering through two rewarding,but rather different, jazzanthologies from the 1990s,neither of them re-printed sincethen so far as I know: MilesKington’s The Jazz Anthology(1992), short extracts, sometimesno more than a paragraph,arranged thematically, and RobertGottlieb’s Reading Jazz (1996),a massive doorstep of a bookof longer excerpts austerelyarranged under Autobiography,Reportage and Criticism. Idecided to check out howdifferent writers had judged thesame musician, settled on CharlieParker and bumped straightinto the Larkin phenomenon.Get him on his favourite jazzof, say, the 1930s and no onebetter conveys the joy it brings;any hint of ‘modernism’ (prettyancient now, but I suppose itwas fairly modern when he waswriting) and he turns into an OldTestament prophet calling downplagues of boils on sinful Mankind.

It was a footnote in Larkin’sIntroduction to a collectionof his newspaper pieces, AllWhat Jazz?, reproduced in theGottlieb volume, that caughtmy eye:‘I fancy, however, thatParker was improving at thetime of his death, possibly asa result of meeting Bechet inFrance (Bechet was always readyto instruct the young).’ Forsheer patronising cloth-earedbigotry, that stands alongsideRex Harris’ claim in Jazz (1952)that Coleman Hawkins wouldhave achieved much more ifhe had stuck to a proper jazzinstrument – the clarinet. Harris’fundamentalist approach nowprompts a more than occasionalchuckle, but to be fair to himhe was a maverick amateurwhose real business was (if Iremember correctly) dentistry.

Now Larkin’s main businesswas librarianship and his geniuswas for writing poetry, butfor ten years (1961-1971) hewas the official jazz critic ofthe Daily Telegraph – wonderfulin these straitened times tothink of a major national dailyhaving a jazz critic! Didn’t thatplace some obligation on himto understand his subject?

A section of the Kington bookis devoted to ‘Bits of Larkin’ andany Miles Davis fan is stronglyadvised to look away at this point.I am no great enthusiast forMiles and reckon his enormousreputation owes something tothe number of great trumpetersof his generation who perishedsadly early, but Larkin goes wayover the top and beats thesame drum of Miles-bashingagain and again:‘To me he is theCharles Addams of the trumpet– without the humour, ofcourse.’/’a master of rebarbativeboredom’/’almost anything…hasseemed to me more interestingthan the passionless creep of aMiles Davis trumpet solo.’ By thetime he wrote his introductionto AllWhat Jazz?, though hestill dismissed the bebopperscomprehensively, he had suchyounger musicians as OrnetteColeman,Archie Shepp andAlbert Ayler to get his teeth into.

So is there a case to be made forLarkin the jazz critic? Much as thedefinitive nature of his wrong-headed judgements infuriates,there are, in fact, several cases tobe made, some more convincingthan others. It’s always a bit of acop-out to suggest other peoplewere as bad, but it’s certainlytrue in his case. On the one handa fair bit of pretentious junkwas written about the variousnew things in jazz as they camealong and on the other it wasn’tLarkin who wrote absurdly in1960,‘Just as long as real jazzlovers and critics allow bop tobe presented to the public as“Jazz” or “Modern Jazz”, it is veryunlikely that the situation will getany brighter.’ That was HuguesPanassie, founding President ofthe Hot Club de France and awriter of great certainty in hisown wisdom. Larkin, to be fair,sets out his own unsuitabilityfor the role of jazz critic in hisintroduction – but even so hecarried on doing it for 10 years!

There is certainly a role for thewriter who regularly confrontsthe current orthodoxy, thoughmaybe it’s better if he’s onsurer ground in discerningthe Emperor’s nakedness. Ivalue Larkin’s comment on the

death of Johnny Hodges, anassertion of the permanenceof class irrespective of fashion,even as it is an unnecessarilywaspish dig at Coltrane:

‘Hodges brought as much beautyinto jazz as Coltrane did ugliness(a large claim, but I’ll stick toit), but Coltrane got TheTimesobituary and Hodges didn’t:that’s the world we live in.’

In the 1960s Hodges – and otherLarkin favourites such as FatsWaller and Bechet – may nothave been flavour of the monthwith avant-garde jazz critics, butat least they were recognisedas major figures, but Larkin alsoreminded us of the great jazzwe were in danger of forgetting.Constantly he returned tothose wonderful Rhythmakerssessions of the early 1930swith the likes of Red Allen, PeeWee Russell and Fats Waller.When singer Billy Banks touredEurope in the 1950s, Larkinmade one of his oddly rare visitsto a live performance, only tobe grievously disappointed atBanks’ Al Jolson impressions!

So Larkin raises fundamentalquestions on the role of a jazzcritic/reviewer/columnist. It’s agreat thing to spread the wordabout Bessie Smith or Eddie Lang,but, if your readers trust you onthat, might they not also trustyou when you write nonsense?

RON SIMPSON looks back to a controversial jazz writer.

ALL WHAT JAZZ?

15THE JAZZ RAG

CD REVIEWS

TOM GREEN SEPTET

TIPPING POINT

Spark 008 57.54

Trombonist Green always keepsgood company and tends tostick with the musical friends hemade at college. He’s appearedin various line-ups with thesemusicians. I can recall severalof them appearing as the DixieStrollers under trumpeter JamesDavison’s leadership – he’s onthis album too – but this is analtogether different kettle of fish.

Green’s septet has recordedbefore (Skyline appeared in2015, also on Spark) and as onthe earlier release seven of theeight tracks are Green’s own.This time his notes state that20% of the album proceedswill be donated to charitiesconnected with climate change.So, good news all round, forGreen’s pieces are contemporaryin feel, with clever harmonicresolutions, good melodicideas and deep-down swing.

He’s already won prizes for jazzcomposition and is a graduateof the Royal Academy of Music.For this recording, made in June2019, Green and Davison lineup with Tommy Andrews (altoand soprano sax), Sam Miles(tenor sax); Sam James (piano),Misha Mullov-Abbado (bass)and drummer Scott Chapman.

Green’s gift for texture is striking,the ability to add depth, tosimulate a much larger ensemble,to allow an ebb and flow, iseasily seen with the album’s titletrack, and the room it makesfor Andrews’ zig-zagging alto.The backing suggests turbulentthings to come, as Greenenters, ribald and mournful,Davison expressive, before someMingus-like to and fro, over

Chapman’s vigorous drums.All the way through, the writingis resilient, the soloists embeddedyet able to shine, jewel-like, amidthe aural backdrop. Green knowshis way round the arranger’shandbook but has sufficientstrengths of his own and theright choices of companions tomake this a standout album.

PETERVACHER

BYRON WALLEN

PORTRAIT: REFLECTIONSON BELONGING

Twilight JaguarTJCD3 45:06

Trumpeter Byron Wallen isa true original, as evidencedby the receipt of a BBC JazzAward in the Jazz Innovationcategory as far back as 2003.Here we are in 2020 with anequally innovative new album.

At the age of fifty, it seems fittingthat here we have in Wallen’sown words a meditation ‘onidentity, culture and what itmeans to belong.’ The trumpeterwas born in London to parentsfrom Belize.The album wasconceived whilst sitting in thecentral square in Woolwich,South East London and thatCity’s multi-cultural natureis reflected in the music.

All of the compositions are byWallen and all expertly playedby the core quartet of Rob Lufton guitar, Paul Micheal on bassguitar and RodYoungs at thedrums.Wallen plays flugelhorn,shells, piano and percussionalong with his customarytrumpet.The group enlist thehelp of a percussionist on threetracks and pupils of PlumcroftPrimary School provide vocalson a further three pieces.

Wallen takes inspiration fromDarcus Howe,Woolwich Arsenal,and other sources and, as heindicates in the album notes,

the role of ancestors in ourlives and respect for our ownand others’ cultures is veryimportant to him and influencesthe music.As to the musicitself, it is atmospheric, with theopening Anthem (Epilogue) beingespecially so. Found sound isdeployed throughout to enhancethe atmosphere and every pieceon the album has somethingspecial to offer. For me, the balladFundamental is outstanding andthe contrasting Holler is a joy.

ALAN MUSSON

ERROLL GARNER

FEELING IS BELIEVING

Mack Avenue MAC1165 45.17

These eleven tracks have beengarnered (excuse the pun)from two sessions recordedin November and December1969.They have seen previouslife on Mercury, Banquet, andTelmarc and although thisrelease claims that this is thepoint where Garner began todevelop his idiosyncratic style,these tracks sound very muchlike the usual Garner to me.

Certainly it would be interestingif it was an example of anemerging style, but Garnerseemed to arrive in the jazzworld fully formed and stuckpretty much to that formulafor his entire career; that killerleft hand and all those tumblingright hand runs which producedthat exuberant and spirited stylewhich immediately identified him.

On these sessions it is obviousthat he hadn’t yet found adrummer who could fit intohis style and Charlie Persipand Joe Cucozzo, though finedrummers, are superfluous toGarner’s metronomic left hand.

So what’s to say? It’s a pleasingGarner outing; nothing

remarkable, but uniquely Garnerand none the worse for that.Mack Avenue have done anexcellent job on the remasteringand fans of the pianist may wantto replace their old LPs with thisnew version, but this feels verymuch a ‘job done’ occasion.

JOHN MARTIN

SINNE EEG & THEDANISH RADIOBIG BAND

WE’VE JUST BEGUN

Stunt Records STUCD19132 51:43

Sinne Eeg has released a stringof critically acclaimed albums,winning numerous awards alongthe way.The Danish Radio BigBand joined Eeg in the studioover four days at the end ofJanuary 2019 to record We’ve JustBegun and the finished productis destined to further enhanceEeg’s reputation as one of thefinest vocalists of her generation.Five of the album’s ten trackswere written or co-written byEeg and lose little by comparisonwith a selection of jazz standardsincluding My FavouriteThings,Detour Ahead and Comes Love.Instrumental soloists areindicated in the liner notes(including Gerard Presencer,flugelhorn on To a New Day), thecontributions are never less thanimmaculate and a striking featureof most is commendable brevity.

Eeg possesses an enviable, pitch-perfect, vocal range.The DanishRadio Big Band, conducted byNikolai Bøgelund, is on top of thematerial throughout and Ms Eegcouldn’t wish for a better ‘backingband’.The title track opens thealbum and within a few bars it isevident that Egg is a commandingpresence not in the leastintimidated by the latent powerof Denmark’s premier big band.Hans Ulrik’s tenor saxophone

CD REVIEWS

16 THE JAZZ RAG

CD REVIEWS

solo lays down a marker and allsubsequent soloists - includingHenrik Gunde, piano on Like aSong, Per Gade, guitar on Talkingto Myself, Frederik Menzies,tenor sax on My FavouriteThings,and Peter Fuglsang, clarinet onComes Love - step up to themark. We’ve Just Begun is anexceptionally good recordingand should be considered oneof 2020’s essential purchases.

RUSSELL CORBETT

FRED HUNT

BLUES ‘N’ BOOGIE

Lake Records LACD361 72.34

These re-mastered recordingsreleased by Paul Adams on hisprestigious Lake Records labelreveal the artistry and richdiversity of one of Britain’sfinest jazz pianists. Self taughtand stylistically influenced byAmerican stride pianist DonaldLambert, Fred Hunt is featuredhere in live performance withMike Bracewell on drums, whorecorded the proceedings onhis portable tape recorder.

The year is 1979, Bracewelltells us in his informative sleevenotes; the setting is a northernhotel where a crowded, smoke-tinged room holds a well-wornpiano. Most of us can relateto this and much of the livelyatmosphere is retained as Hunttreats his audience to a veritablemasterclass of styles and genres.A stirring St. Louis Blues heraldsa rich tapestry of familiar titlesfrom the Glenn Miller andEllington catalogues; thoughtfulreadings of show stoppers AsTime Goes By, Sweet Lorraineand Send InThe Clowns andinspired themes associated withYesterdays and Autumn Leaves.

Two Gershwin tributesLady Be Good andThe ManI Love with their seamless

changes and rhythms aretremendous and Hunt closeson a high with an impressiveinterpretation of Elegie by Frenchcomposer Jules Massenet.

Fred Hunt rose to prominencethrough his long associationwith the Alex Welsh Band.Thebonus track Davenport Blues wasrecorded by Allan Gilmore atThe Dancing Slipper, Nottinghamin 1968 and features Hunt induo with the maestro himself.The overall performance isstunning. I can’t think of a morefitting tribute to either artist.

VAL WISEMAN

THE FRENCHPRESERVATIONNEW ORLEANSJAZZ BAND

ALIVE AND KICKINGIN EUROPE

Upbeat Jazz URCD 299D,2 CDs, 76.00/76/00

Upbeat Records continue tokeep alive the recordings of thelate Big Bill Bissonnette’s JazzCrusade label.This double CDfirst appeared 15 years ago asJumpin’ at Irigny (where this livesession was recorded in 2003)and the present re-naming seemsrather odd in view of Big Bill’spassing two years ago. Bill andcornetist FredVigorito guestwith the French PreservationNew Orleans Jazz Band whichconsists of saxist Jean-PierreAlessi and rhythm, therebygiving the lie to all those NewOrleans ‘purists’ who thinksaxophones are the work ofthe devil.This is authentic NewOrleans jazz and not a clarinetin sight,Alessi even doing thehonours – very nicely, thankyou – on Burgundy Street Blues.

Alessi is an interesting,uncomplicated player whosemelody statements can have

a four-square dance band feelbefore he boots into driving,rhythmic solos, often withmore than a touch of rhythmand blues.The note refers toEmanuel Paul as his guru, butthere are echoes of CaptainJohn Handy, too. FredVigoritovaries strong lead with delicatetouches and freakish effects andBig Bill’s burry-toned tailgatehas its sentimentally melodicmoments. Henry Lemaire onbanjo (habitues of Mike Durham’sJazz Party know him as a bassplayer) and Joel Gregoriades onbass combine splendidly and, withdrummer Clody Gratiot, reallykick on in uptempo numberssuch as Get Out of Here.Like so many New Orleans bandsthe eclectic repertoire appeals.After a none too promising startwith a raucous Washington &Lee Swing (banjo over-recorded,though generally the ‘live’ soundis pretty good) things settlenicely with an unexpectedlylively version of Brahms’ CradleSong and a delightful LavenderBlue at that typical lilting slow-medium tempo. So we go on,old warhorses such as Bugle BoyMarch and Panama alongsideobscurities (Love Songs of the Nile)and such swing era favourites asMoonglow and Marie which startsout as a ringing banjo solo beforeturning into an uninhibited romp.

RON SIMPSON

DON VAPPIE &JAZZ CREOLE

THE BLUE BOOKOF STORYVILLE

Lejazzetal Records: LJC22 72:37

DonVappie and Jazz Créole isa tight quartet, playing mainlyNew Orleans creole stuff ina freewheeling way with a bighappy sound. Leader and vocalist,DonVappie, New Orleans-born,is too young to have seen mostof the great traditional jazz

banjoists with whom he standscomparison in complete masteryof the whole gamut of trills,rills, runs and accentuations,not least Johnny St Cyr, anobvious influence. His Créolefamily name wasVapaille, and hisgreat-uncle, Papa John Joseph,played bass with the legendaryBuddy Bolden, later with theOriginal Tuxedo Orchestra andultimately with George Lewis.

He is supported by threeoutstanding, internationally-renowned musicians, nostrangers to each other andsteeped in the music. DaveKelbie’s rhythm guitar is aconstant delight in itself, neverobtrusive, always supportive andinventive. For much of his careerhe has been associated withHot Club-style music, playingrecently with Evan Christopher’sacclaimed Django à la Créole –as has swinging Australian bassplayer Sébastien Girardot.

David Horniblow’s versatileclarinet and sax require evenless introduction, especially toTraditional Jazz fans, who willremember his goodly stintswith each of the three Bs.Horniblow expresses themelody on all the tracks whichoffer a fascinating insight intoCréole music’s diversity and itsrhythms being rooted not least inragtime, spasm bands, marchingbands, the call and response ofspirituals and in Créole culture.

LaVille Jacamel is an utterlycharming traditional Haitianfolk song about a haplesstraveller - or should that be‘hatless’ - who keeps losing hisheadwear. C’est l’autre Cancan,which composer Kid Ory - whomore than anybody took NewOrleans Jazz’s French influenceto a wider audience - simplycalled Créole Song, is taken ata much slower tempo andinstead of hot and stompingbecomes a jaunty little tune.

This is a loving homage toNew Orleans’ Creole music.

ANDREW LIDDLE

DAVE BRUBECK:A LIFE IN TIME

PHILIP CLARK

Headline Books, hardback,9781472272485, £25.00

Philip Clark’s superb biographytransforms a familiar story.Dave Brubeck’s life, even off theconcert stage, was hardly livedin obscurity.Throughout hiscareer he opened up articulatelyabout his music and personalhistory in interviews.And no-one has found skeletons in thecloset. Brubeck is famous forhaving been a clean-living familyman, a constant contrast to hisfree-living career-long associatePaul Desmond. He protected hishome life, but his wife Iola wascentrally involved in his careerfrom its start and he eventuallyformed a band with three of hissons. Part of his family life was onpublic display.And most facets ofhis music are well documentedin recordings. Brubeck’s hugepopularity gave him muchpower, even against a corporaterecording giant like Columbia,for which he made many of hisalbums. So, he could get manyof even his least commercialprojects on record. But themass of Brubeck informationhas long needed sifting andanalysing, and Clark brings afresh eye and ear to the task.

This is not the first book-lengthBrubeck biography. It’s AboutTimeby Fred Hall appeared in 1997.Short and workmanlike, it offeredscant analysis of the music, andhad surprisingly little to sayabout Brubeck’s greatest hit, the1959 Time Out album, and theDesmond-Brubeck compositionTake Five that took off from it andsoared into the pop charts. Clarkrightly sees Time Out as a careerwatershed, and makes much ofit and of Columbia’s initial lackof enthusiasm for it.The album’ssuccess changed Brubeck’s lifefinancially and helped to push himtowards all-round internationalcelebrity.The breadline existenceof the early years in SanFrancisco was left far behind. But,listening to tapes of the recordingsessions, Clark realised that TakeFive emerged in nothing likethe serendipitous way Brubeckregularly claimed.The tapes

showed just how difficult andfrustrating the process had been,partly because of Joe Morello’sdifficulty in settling into the 5/4groove that defined the piece,and partly through the problemof turning the bits of tune intoa performance that worked.

Clark’s book is full of such detailand he turns out to be Brubeck’sperfect biographer. He is everybit the Brubeck fan, and one carpabout this new biography may bethat it is too uncritical and starry-eyed about its hero. But Clark isalso a knowledgeable jazz, rockand popular music journalist(so he can authoritatively traceBrubeck’s previously littlediscussed influence on rockgroups).And, crucially, he hasconservatory training in musicalcomposition and knows his wayaround modern classical music.So he can bring out clearlywhat, for most jazz fans, are onlydimly perceived links betweenBrubeck’s jazz and the enduringlegacy of his classical compositionstudies with Darius Milhaud.

The book analyses almost allBrubeck’s music on record,often track by track. No doubtto the relief of many readers,it doesn’t need to includemusical notation to do so.Theanalysis may sometimes betoo detailed for anyone whodoesn’t know the records,but Clark digs deeply into themusic, with real insights andimaginative comparisons. In thatway he does justice to Brubeck

the musician in a way that hasbeen rare in the jazz press.And, if one key test of a goodjazz book is that it sends thereader back to the recordings,this biography does that.Whilereading, I have worked my waythrough my Brubeck collection,finding myself often re-evaluatingalbums that I had attached littlesignificance to, and discoveringmany new aspects of the music.

The author’s musicologicalknowledge allows him to writeinsightfully about Brubeck’s muchneglected, early co-operativeoctet of the late 1940s, whichpredated the quartet. Rightup to the mid-1950s, Brubeckwanted to revive the octet andget recognition for its recordings,which ignore jazz-classicaldivides and still sound freshand innovative today.This sideof Brubeck’s work may holdlittle appeal for many jazz fans,but Clark shows convincinglythat Brubeck’s career and theshape his later music tookcannot be fully appreciatedwithout understanding why theoctet meant so much to him.

The book is based on animmense amount of research.Clark interviewed Brubeckmany times and at length. He hasmade much use of the Brubeckarchives, followed contacts andvisited key sites in the story.Thebook is chock full of fascinatinginformation. But it deliberatelyrejects any strict chronology.The first chapter starts with

the author travelling with theBrubeck entourage in Britainin 2003, and then lurches backto 1953 when Brubeck’s bestearly recordings were made.And Dave’s childhood and youthcome into full focus only threequarters of the way through thetext.The bravura approach tocontinuity is imaginative, but cansometimes seem cavalier – acollage rather than a narrative– so that it becomes hard tosee much logic in the orderingof material.A good index to linkup scattered bits of the storyis essential. Fortunately, thiswell-produced book has one.And Clark has a good, lively style,with a penchant for flamboyantturns of phrase. His writing holdsthe reader’s attention easily.

The picture of Brubeck thatemerges is of a decent, shrewdbut not particularly materialisticman, self-confident, hugelyambitious for his music tosucceed, single-minded anddetermined, loyal to family,friends and musical collaborators,and quietly fierce in hisimplacable opposition to racism.The mystery of why he was quiteso wildly successful commerciallyis still not entirely solved, butthis book, surely the definitivebiography, shows convincinglythat, as a musician, Brubeck isfar more interesting, profoundand complex than has oftenbeen assumed in the past.

ROGER COTTERRELL

17THE JAZZ RAG

BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEWS

18 THE JAZZ RAG

BOOK REVIEW / COMPETITION

The Criterion Collection isoffering two Blu-ray boxsets ofOtto Preminger’s classic 1959courtroom drama, Anatomy of aMurder with a ground-breakingscore written by Duke Ellingtonand Billy Strayhorn and playedby the Ellington Orchestra.Anatomy of a Murder has beendescribed as ‘probably the finestpure trial movie’ and featuresa superb cast headed by JamesStewart and Lee Remick, withGeorge C. Scott, in one of hisearliest feature film roles, pickingup his first Academy Awardnomination.And who shouldmake an appearance as the leaderof the combo in a roadhousebut Edward Kennedy Ellington?

As for the score, that is regardedas a landmark in American moviehistory, the first significantexample of a non-diageticscore by African-Americancomposers, i.e. one where themusic is not played as part ofthe film action by either anon-screen or off-screen band.

As well as offering a high-definition restoration of the film,the Blu-ray includes many extrafeatures such as Gary Giddins’analysis of the Ellington score.A renowned jazz critic, Giddinsis best known for his columnin the VillageVoice and a seriesof highly rated books includingstudies of Louis Armstrong,Charlie Parker and Bing Crosby.

Answer the following questionsto win a copy of the CriterionCollection’s Blu-ray boxsetof Anatomy of a Murder:

1. Duke Ellington’s first filmwas made in 1929 andfeatured, among others,dancer Fredi Washington andtrumpeter Arthur Whetsol.What was it called?

2. Anatomy of a Murder alsofeatured memorable visuals– on posters and credits –by which iconic designer?

Want to have something good to watch and listen to during the long days of self-isolation?

COMPETITION

RABBIT’S BLUES:THE LIFE ANDMUSIC OF JOHNNYHODGES

CON CHAPMAN

Oxford University Press,hardback 978 0 19065390 3, £25.00

In that glorious time in thelate 1950s when a generationof supreme jazz musicians, stillmusically in their prime, werefinally allowed into the UK, theannual visits of the Basie andEllington Orchestras were asymbol of the permanence ofgreatness. None more so thanthe unchanging Ellington saxsection: Harry Carney (joinedin 1927) and Paul Gonsalves(1950), both of whom died withinmonths of the Duke in 1974,Russell Procope (1946) who alsoserved until the leader’s death,Jimmy Hamilton (1943) andthe sleepy-eyed, self-contained,apparently monumentally boredgenius of the alto sax, JohnnyHodges, who joined Ellingtonin 1928, left for a spell in theearly 1950s, returned and pre-deceased the leader in 1970.

Con Chapman’s meticulouslyresearched (of secondarysources at least) volume isapparently the first biographyof Johnny Hodges and as such

is more than welcome. It servesas a great point of reference forstudents of a unique jazz greatwho spread so much joy withoutapparently feeling a lot of ithimself. Unfortunately, though avaluable guide to a superlativejazz career, it’s not a particularlyinteresting read.We get littlesense of Hodges’ private life –maybe it was just too private!

The great strength of Rabbit’sBlues – but also its limitation –emerges if you check out themany pages of notes. Chapter2, for instance, 11 pages long,has 83 notes, mostly justidentifying sources for referencesor quotations.This meansthis is a totally trustworthybiography – Chapman has donehis homework spectacularlywell – but between so manyquoted phrases and sentencesthere is no authorial flow.

Chapman is admirably keenon comparing Hodges to hisfellow-alto saxists, but thechapter on Benny Carter getsus nowhere through a massof different opinions, some asdated as Andre Hodeir, andChapman takes an unnecessaryleague table approach.

Sometimes the book suffers fromover-reliance on facts (Chapmanis good on who’s on a recordingsession, less good on what it

sounds like), but his masteryof facts filled plenty of holesin my knowledge; for instance,the role of Ellington in settingup the 1920s Chick Webb band(in which Hodges played) wasa revelation. Chapman managessome pertinent comment onthe vexed question of how anapparently timeless style changedover the years (not very much)and there is an excellent appraisalof the musical relationship ofHodges and Billy Strayhorn. Hisdepiction of the troubles andjoys of being a Ducal sidemanis credible and fair-minded.Chapman’s version of Hodges is

not especially likeable, but, by allaccounts, neither was the original,nor were his putdowns andfallouts especially entertaining.

I enjoyed this less than I hoped,but it is a valuable resourceand its 16 pages of well chosenphotographs include myfavourite photograph of Hodges:Herman Leonard’s memorableimage of the great alto saxistkeeping an attentively half-openeye on the quintessentiallyParisian waiter pouring hiswine in the Brasserie Lipp.

RON SIMPSON

Send your answers tojazzrag@bigbearmusic.comby June 19th, 2020

Howard McCraryMoments Like This

Remi HarrisTrioNinick

The WhiskeyBrothers

Bottle Up And Go

Bruce Adams/AlanBarnes Quintet

Let’s Face The Music

Various ArtistsJazz City UKVolume 2

JAZZCITYUKVOLUME2: THE JAMSESSIONS

TipitinaTaking Care of

Business

TipitinaI Wish I Was In New

Orleans

Bill Allred’s GoodTime Jazz BandSwing That Music!

Various ArtistsJazz City UKVolume 1

King Pleasure &The Biscuit Boys

Live At Last

King Pleasure &The Biscuit BoysHey Puerto Rico!

Bruce Adams/AlanBarnes Quintet

Side Steppin’

Lady SingsThe Blues

Laughing at Life

Nomy RosenbergNomy Rosenberg Trio

Alan Barnes’Marbella All Stars

The Marbella JazzSuite

Duncan SwiftThe Broadwood

Concert

Potato HeadJazz Band

Stompin’ Around

Django’s Castlewith Bruce AdamsSwing Hotel duVin

King Pleasure &The Biscuit BoysSmack Dab In The

Middle

Bruce AdamsQuartet

One Foot In TheGutter

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