The Codified Jazz Solo

Several improvised solos in the Basie band's "April In Paris" became codified.

Codification: when a solo is played almost exactly the same way on different recordings (or live), or when a recorded solo becomes well enough known to be orchestrated for either a section of the band or for the entire ensemble. You might call riffs 'mini-codifications.' 

Tommy Dorsey band's 1947 version of "Marie" features a well-known solo by Bunny Berigan (died in 1942) arranged for the entire trumpet section. (Starts at 1'36")


Orchestrated homages like "Marie" are well accepted as part of the arrangers art. However, while not quite a dirty little secret, soloists repeating worked out/famous solos is at least a bete noir; seen as not being in the spirit of continuously spontaneous creation that jazz people want to associate with this music. 

Is this the lingering aftershock of the Bop revolution, which moved jazz away from dance music and 'entertainment' into 'art' music?  In fact, the anti-commercialism aspect of jazz mythology predates the boppers by many years. In its 20's form it was a mythology much more driven by white jazz culture than black. i.e. "I have to play with this damned society band to make the bread but as soon as the gig is over I'm gonna go jam all night-hopefully, with some black musicians." (This dovetailed interestingly with the pressure record labels put on white bands to record "sweet" music and black bands to record "hot" even though, in practice, both colors played both kinds). 

That old devil commerciality, it was said, not only forced jazzers to play despised music, the money lust was such that bandleaders forced codified solos on reluctant musicians in order to mine every last gold shard from the vein opened up by a popular recording. 


Many possible areas of exploration open up: the 'hipness' factor in jazz and its place in the larger cultural context; the shifting/evolving relationship between that factor and the desire to please an audience (is a back-turning Miles a possible symbolic center of that shift?); the question of how much variation from melody-or from a previous solo-qualifies a performance as improvisatory. 

I invite readers to submit concrete examples of the process of codification as I have described it-or to cite other ways it has happened. Let's see how far back the process can be traced, examine contexts, compare examples and see what arises for further exploration. Tell me if you agree or disagree with the disreputability I say its reputation has acquired.

One of the Great Codifiers in jazz

You know, you can't write about Louis Armstrong, the man at the very top of the heap, without addressing codification. Give Thomas Brothers' recent book credit for doing that.

Chill Vocals, Pt. 2

My personal response to global warming; as heard on my show, the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour, Thursday, July 3, 2014 on WZBC, 90.3, WZBC.ORG.

Listen Here.

Playlist:

Mark Murphy "On the Red Clay" (Jazz, 1975) on muse 

Count Basie "Whirlybird" from "At Birdland" (Jazz, 1960) on Emus  

June Christy "Something Cool"(Jazz, 1953) on Blue Note 

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra "Take the A Train" (Jazz, 1952) on Columbia 

Ella Fitzgerald "My Reverie" (Jazz, 1960) on Verve 

Chet Baker "Line for Lyons" (Jazz, 1956) on World Pacific 

Jack Teagarden "Don't Tell a Man About His Woman" from "Essential Jazz Vocals" (Jazz) on Verve 

Lee Wiley & Bobby Hackett "STREET of DREAMS" (Jazz, 1950) on Columbia 

Billy Eckstein "Caravan" (Jazz, 1949) on Verve 

Bob Dorough "Something for Sydney" (Jazz, 1997) on Blue Note 

Peggy Lee "That's the Way it Goes" (Jazz, 1941) on Columbia 

Louis Armstrong "Mack the Knife" (Jazz, 1955) on Columbia 

Billie Holliday "Fine And Mellow" (Jazz, 1939) on Commodore

King Pleasure "Golden Days" (Jazz, 1960) on Prestige 

Blossom Dearie "Surrey With The Fringe On The Top" (Jazz, 1958) on Verve 

Mel Torme and the MelTones "Hit the Road to Dreamland" (Jazz, 1959) on Verve 

Joe Williams "Hey Bartender" (Jazz, 1951) on Columbia 

Ella Fitzgerald "Blues in the Night" (Jazz, 1961) on Verve 

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross "Charleston Alley" (Jazz, 1959) on Columbia 

Mose Allison "Ever Since the World Ended" Jazz, 1997) on Blue Note 

Betty Carter "Some Other Time" (Jazz, 1993) on Capital Jazz 

Kurt Elling "Those Clouds Are Heavy, You Dig?" (Jazz, 2009) on Concord 

Vanessa Rubin "Black Coffee" (Jazz, 1995) on novus 

Mark Murphy "Canteloupe Island" (Jazz, 1960) on muse 

Chris Connor "Blue Silhouette" (Jazz, 1954) on Bethlehem 

Joe Williams "Who She Do" (Jazz, 1983) on Delos 

The Phoenix Jazz Record Label Story

My guest on the 6/26/14 edition of The Duplex was Tom Curry, co-founder with Bob Porter of the Phoenix Jazz record label and host of his own program on Zumix Radio. Over the course of the show, Tom took us through the history of the label. Good stuff.

Listen here.

Playlist:

All selections from the Phoenix Jazz record label

Cootie Williams Sextet-Tessa's Torch Song-1944 (Pearl Bailey's and Bud Powell's 1st recording)

Dodo Marmarosa-Smooth Sailing-1946

Eddie Cleanhead Vincent-Somebody Sure Has Got to Go-1944

Jack McVae-Young Man's Blues-1945

Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie-Shaw Nuff, Groovin' High-1945

Sonny Stitt/Eddie Lockjaw Davis-Whoops!-1954

Jimmy Cleveland/Benny Golson-Blues-1959

Bill Harris/Charlie Ventura-The Great Lie-1947

Arnett Cobb/Dinah Washington-I Got It Bad-1952

Sabby Lewis-Embraceable You(w. Freddy Webster)

Charlie Parker-Now's The Time-1953

Red Allen-The Theme-1944

Charlie Parker-My Little Suede Shows-1953

Red Allen-Red Jump-1944

The Scene in L.A./ Central Ave.

Jazz, R&B and blues from 1940's-50's L.A, played on the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour with Steve Provizer on 06/19/2014. Audio archived at WZBC.ORG 

 PLAYLIST

 Roy Porter´s 17 Beboppers "Sippin With Cisco" (earliest recording session of Eric Dolphy)

 Howard McGhee Sextet "Dial-Ated Pupils" 

 Roy Porter´s 17 Beboppers "Gassin the Wig" 

 Howard McGhee Sextet "Up In Dodo's Room" 

 Johnny Otis Quintet & The Robin & Esther "Double Crossing Blues" 

 Gerald Wilson "Cruisin' With Cab" 

 Gerald Wilson Orchestra "Dissonance In Blues (1947)

 Joe Liggin & Honey Drippers "Pink Champagne" 

 Dexter Gordon Quintet "Mischievous Lady"

 Wardell Grey "move" 

 Nellie Lutcher "I Thought About You" 

 Percy Mayfield "Please Send Me Someone to Love"

 Lionel Hampton "Red Top" 

 Big Jay McNeeley "Deacon's Hop"

 Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray "The Chase" 

 Charles Brown "Black Nite"

 Jimmy Witherspoon "Big Fine Girl"

 Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends "Money Blues"

 Nellie Lutcher "Fine Brown Frame"

 Roy Porter´s 17 Beboppers "Little Wig"

 Teddy Edwards Quartet "Blues in Teddy's Flat" 

 Wardell Grey "Farmer’s Market" 

 Annie Ross "Farmers Market" 

 Joe Swanson Orchestra "East of the Sun" 

 T-Bone Walker "Stormy Monday"

 Big Jay McNeeley "Nervous, Man, Nervous" 

 Jimmy Liggins and His Drops of Joy "Tear Drop Blues" 

 Frank Morgan "The Champ" 

 Roy Milton and His Solid Senders "Hop, Skip and Jump"

 Art Tatum "Too Marvelous for Words"

 Pee Wee Crayton "Blues After Hours"

 Charles Mingus "Mingus Fingers"

 Charles Mingus "These Foolish Things"

Where are the Vuvuzuelas?

Did FIFA ban vuvuzuelas because of noise pollution? I doubt that. The decibel-meter already pins out at international soccer matches; maybe because of their potential usefulness as bludgeons? Whatever the reason, I'm missing those gaudy plastic tubes and to honor them, I offer this revised piece. 

In my day, these horns (at that time, just red) stuck out the top of the carts dragged along by vendors working the crowds at parades and ballparks. They also had banners, mylar balloons and the industrious ones also sold popcorn. But the horns were the most expensive and highly-prized tchochkes. Browbeating a parent into buying one was an all-day effort. 

So, is it cheesy sentimentality that makes me care? Do I think that people who have explored the vuvuzuela and experienced its melodic limitations will flock to study the trumpet? Sure, just like I believe that sampling say, Miles, in hip hop tracks will bring the kids around to listening to jazz. NO. This infernal device is powerful for other reasons, like the power of limited means. Wha? 

Listen: I had a friend who played the piano. From a rich family, he refused to go to a gig where they wanted him to play any kind of piano but a grand. No electric, spinet or upright for him...I'll just sit here for a few minutes with steam coming out of my nose as I remember all the music I've heard made on crappy pianos by Tatum, Bud, Willie the Lion, any great jazz pianist. Of course you don't want to sit down to play a piano with no F# above middle C, with the top octave sounding like the broken works of a cheap music box, or with a sustain pedal that sounds like it's harboring a family of mice. But that's what you got. You take it as a challenge to figure out work-arounds. Maybe it forces you to use new patterns and you discover a riff you never knew existed. Maybe it pisses you off so much you start channeling Cecil Taylor.


People act amazed at the great music played by folks who made banjos out of cereal boxes, or drums out of spackle containers or oil drums. Not me. The investment almost pre-determines that if the music's in you, you'll work hard enough to get it out. Now, you ain't making great music with the infernal vuvuzela, but you are putting enough breath into a column to agitate the standing waves and engage the harmonic series. That puts you closer to the many musicians who made somethin' from nothin' than to the people who buy Martin Committee horns and hang them on their den walls. Breathing is always a good thing. And you gotta breathe to work the tube, so vive la viv!

A Tribute: My Quiet Dad, Doing It Right

Dad and I at the beach, w. Mom's shadow overlaid as she snaps the photo

My father Max went to work early, as his family lost its financial footing when he was young. His father was a butcher and his first cousin, Bob, owned a deli, so it was natural for him to go into that business. After the war, he returned to another deli owned by Bob, where he stayed for 29 years. He worked five long days, one half day (Sunday) and had Wednesday off. He had 2 weeks of vacation a year.

Like many guys who came of age in the Depression and fought in World War II, Max was a heavy smoker (Camels). I think he had his first heart attack at age 44. Following the regimen of the day, he was given nitroglycerin pills to carry around, told to cut down on salt and take walks. He put down the cigarettes and picked up a pipe. Whether or not he inhaled it, I was too young or too distracted to notice. It was too little, too late and he died at age 47.

He was essentially a serious man, whose tastes ran to Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, Miles Davis, Nat Cole and Mahalia Jackson. I listened to his music and was snared early into the jazz labyrinth. 

One week of Max's vacation was spent in Portsmouth, NH, at my mother's parents' house which was on a gravel lane, next door to a lobsterman. Beyond that house was the water-Portsmouth's Great Bay. We fished off bridges or breakwaters near beaches, trying for flounder and mackerel, but usually catching pollack. One afternoon, we tied into a run of white hake and brought back bushel baskets full, most of which we gave away to neighbors. The rest my grandmother Annie cleaned and prepared for us. Fishing was a time when I sensed my father's pulse slowing down and we were able to flow into each other.

My 5th grade (?) rendition of Fenway Park

We lived about a 20-minute walk from Fenway Park and some Sundays and Wednesdays (there were mid-week day games then), we went to Red Sox games. We got there early for batting practice and either sat in the bleachers or the left-field grandstand. Normally, there were about 15,000 people in the park. It was the end of Ted Williams' career and before the beginning of Yaz's. Pinkie Higgins guided the team to a long succession of losing seasons. There was an occasional burst of organ music and announcements of pinch-hitters, but mostly a tranquil attentiveness prevailed.

"ballgame"

One day at work, someone gave him a shiny 1864 Indian Head penny (no "L" on the ribbon) and we became coin collectors. On Wednesdays, he went to the bank and exchanged cash for coins. We'd spread them out on the kitchen table and sift through them, consulting a copy of the "Red Book" to see if we'd stumbled on anything of value. We tried to fill the blue albums with pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters, but never found the rarest dates. We frequented coin shops downtown on Bromfield St. but looked and almost never bought. Our family had enough money, but I could see my dad thought, not really enough to spend on a hobby.

We lived right off Commonwealth Ave and in the fall, we would walk up and down the street, visiting the car dealerships to see the new models and collect brochures on the latest model Chevy or Rambler. We pressed our noses against the window of the Packard dealer at Packard's Corner, but never felt quite at home enough to go in. ($5000 for a car!!). Such trips were like exchanging molecules with my dad.

My father dressed neatly, if not extravagantly; wore glasses, which he called "cheaters" to watch TV, lost his patience at my mother's inability to read maps and was joyful when he came home and I leaped into his arms.

Being a father mostly draws attention when it's done badly. Let's not forget that many do it quietly and well, like my dad.

Dad's tie rack, with some of his ties; still in use

Listening to Commodore Records

Commodore Records, which grew out of the Commodore Record Shop in Manhattan, was the brainchild of Milt Gabler. Gabler was the first to re-issue old jazz records, the first to list all personnel on records and the first to do mail order for jazz records. As you can see by the playlist, Gabler used a stable of great players in the mainstream/traditional/swing vein. The label recorded Billie Holliday singing "Strange Fruit" when her producer at Columbia Records, John Hammond, would not. 

This edition of the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour with Steve Provizer ran on WZBC.ORG on 06/12/2014. Audio is available at http://wzbc.org/#archive; Thursday, 5-7 PM.

Playlist:

Eddie Condon "Carnegie Jump" (Jazz, 1938) 

Eddie Condon "Jada" (Jazz, 1938) 

Chu Berry "Sittin' In" (Jazz, 1938) 

Chu Berry "Forty Six West Fifty Two"  (Jazz, 1938) 

Wild Bill Davison "That's a Plenty" (Jazz, 1943) 

George Brunis "Tin Roof Blues"  (Jazz, 1943)

Jelly-Roll Morton "Panama" (Jazz, 1940) 

Eddie Edwards & His Original Dixieland Jazz Band "Tiger Rag" (Jazz, 1946)

Billie Holliday "Strange Fuit"  (Jazz, 1939)  

Johnny Wiggs & His New Orleans "Zulu's Parade" (Jazz, 1950) 

Muggsy Spanier And His Ragtimers (Jazz, 1944)

Coleman Hawkins "Boff Boff (Mop Mop)" (Jazz, 1943) 

Wild Bill Davison "At the Jazz Band Ball"  (Jazz, 1943)

Sidney Bechet and His Feetwamers "Jelly Roll Blues" (Jazz, 1950) 

Max Kaminsky & His Jazz Band "Eccentric" (Jazz, 1944) 

Eddie Edwards & His Original Dixieland Jazz Band "Shake It And Break It" (Jazz, 1946)

Eddie Condon "Ballin the Jack" (Jazz, 1939) 

Eddie Condon "Basin Sreet Blues" (Jazz, 1943) 

Eddie Edwards & His Band "Skeleton Jangle" (jazz, 1944)

Bobby Hackett and His Orchestra "At Sundown" (Jazz, 1944) 

Eddie Edwards & His Original Dixieland Jazz Band "Lazy Daddy" (Jazz, 1946) 

Wild Bill Davidson "I'm Coming Virginia" (Jazz, 1946) 

DeParis Brothers Orchestra "I've Found a New Baby" (Jazz, 1944) 

Muggsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band "Rosetta" (Jazz, 1944) 

Eddie Condon and His Windy City Seven "Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland" (Jazz, 1938) 

Wild Bill Davison And His Commodores "Baby, Won't You Please come Home" (Jazz, 1943)

Eddie Condon And His Band "Georgia Grind" (Jazz, 1940)

Jack Teagarden and his Swingin Gates "Chinatown. My Chinatown" (Jazz, 1944) 

Wild Bill Davison And His Commodores "Riverboat Shuffle" (Jazz, 1943) 

George Wettling & His Rhythm Kings "How Come You Do Me Like You Do Me" (Jazz, 1944)

Extended Ellington

If you missed the Duplex Mystery Hour that played long-form works of Ellington-and Strayhorn-on Thursday June 5, 5-7 PM. check out the playlist below and listen to the audio, archived at http://wzbc.org/#archive. 

Playlist:

 Duke Ellington "Creole Rhapsody" from "Creole Rhapsody" (Jazz, 1931) on Brunswick 

 Duke Ellington "Reminiscing in Tempo" (Jazz, 1935) on Brunswick 

 Duke Ellington "Symphony in Black (A Rhapsody of Negro Life)"(Jazz, 1935) 

 Duke Ellington "Clarinet Lament" (1936) on Brunswick 

 Duke Ellington "Boy Meets Horn" From Fargo, 1940 (Jazz, 1940) on Jazz Classics 

 Duke Ellington "Harlem Air Shaft"(Jazz, 1940) on Victor 

 Duke Ellington "Jump for Joy (Jazz, 1941) on Victor 

 Duke Ellington "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1944) on RCA 

 Duke Ellington "The Harlem Suite" (Jazz, 1951) on Columbia 

 Duke Ellington "A Drum is a Woman" (Jazz, 1957) on Columbia 

 Duke Ellington "Such Sweet Thunder" from "The Queen Suite" (Jazz, 1957) on Columbia 

 Duke Ellington "Anatomy of a Murder theme" from "Anatomy of a Murder" (Jazz, 1959) on Columbia 

 Duke Ellington "Happy Anatomy" from "Happy Anatomy" (Jazz, 1959) on Columbia 

 Duke Ellington "Paris Blues" from "Paris Blues" (Jazz, 1961) on United Artists 

 Duke Ellington "First Sacred Concert" (Jazz, 1965) 

 Duke Ellington "Tourist Point of View" from "The Far East Suite" (Jazz, 1966) on RCA 

 Duke Ellington "Bluebird of Delhi" from "Far East Suite" (Jazz, 1966) on RCA 

 Duke Ellington "Isfahan" from "Far East Suite" (Jazz, 1966) on RCA 

Take the Test: Which Dead Dictator Are you?

The reflected glory that people are sponging up by associating themselves with famous dead painters, musicians, etc. and which is now sweeping the social media, has been duly noted by The Institute. 

We have put our own stamp on the whole fiasco, with a test by which you can discover which dead dictator you most closely resemble. Ready? Let's do it.

Your favorite activity on a day off is:

1. De-barking a maple tree
2. Trashing a hotel room
3. Mugging a barista

What's your favorite gun magazine?

1. Guns and Ammo
2. American Handgunner
3. Shooting Times
4.  Guns of the Old West

Which is these is most important to you?

1. A well-stocked bomb shelter
2. A tidy armaments cabinet
3. New wallpaper in the Safe Room

You're invited to a party. What do you bring?

1. Stink bombs
2. Flamethrower
3. Nothing. Your capacity for verbal invective is gift enough

Where would you most like to live?

1. Area 51
2. Under the ruins of the Berlin Wall
3. Cape Cod

Which of these statements best describes you?

1. I tend to be a bit moody
2. Ozzy-lover from the git go
3. I live to loot

My political views are:

1. Inscribed in gold tablets and hidden in Salt Lake City
2. Known only to me and Gordon Liddy
3. Tattooed on my butt

Nero

To get your scientifically generated, certified personalized results, send $50 in a plain brown envelope to The Institute, c/o this blog.

Jazz Underdogs and the Racial Tinge-Pt. 1

The history of jazz is complicated and resists a simple through-line narrative. It arose as a beautifully haphazard cross-pollination between musicians stable or itinerant, schooled or unschooled, making their work easier by creating songs and shouts, picking up tunes from brass and circus bands, listening in speakeasies and dance halls... All of this happening at dozens, probably hundreds of places across the U.S. 

Those would try to shape jazz into easy stories ("born in New Orleans and travelled up the river to Chicago" sound familiar?) need to keep in mind what Quantum Physics teaches us about measurement: nothing is static and the fact that you're measuring something changes its behavior. So, the observer can measure either its position or its movement, not both.


The commonest way to observe (i.e. freeze) the jazz story is through what I call the Jazz Hero approach; in other words, canonization. To make any canon viable takes historical buttressing, in the form of "experts" who produce books, collections of recordings, films, radio and television shows purporting to be historically "definitive."  The two most powerful recent examples were the Smithsonian Anthology of Jazz and the Ken Burns documentary. 

Jazz dissidents, who know that the Hero's shadow tends to suppress the work of other fine musicians and to over-simplify the process of creation, are always ready to undertake a critique of the canonization process. I've devoted a certain amount of space here and on my radio show The Duplex Mystery Hour to highlighting the work of musicians I think worthy of more attention: Miff Mole, Jabbo Smith, Charlie Shavers, Howard McGhee/Fats Navarro, The Roane Brothers, Joe Gordon and others. This a mixed race group, but much of the energy of the recent de-construction of the canon has gone into looking into the contribution of white musicians. I see it often on jazz Facebook groups and the leading example is Richard Sudhalter's book "Lost Chords, White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz 1915-1945." 

Is it a good idea to write jazz history by focusing on a particular race, gender, religion or other sub-group?  Does it accomplish the kind of democratization that "new" history goes after, trying to

uncover stories that are not restricted to important business and political figures or other historical "winners"? 

Yes and no.

I find Sudhalter's book rich and fascinating and it has led me to investigate a number of musicians in whose work I never invested much attention. It approaches the music with new, highly-trained ears and is a great repository of biographical details and new transcriptions. So, taken on its own terms, it exceeds expectations.

However, if the goal of re-examining this music is to try and more deeply probe its complicated fabric, then using race as the means of deciding who to focus on makes the book feel, well, oddly segregated. 

There are individuals both black and white not in the canon whose work should reasonably be set side by side for musical comparison. Also, the reason why a particular musician has been relegated to the back benches of jazz deserves a more sophisticated analytical lens than just race. 

An historian may, for example, assign people to "white" and "black" schools of clarinet playing in order to show first of all, that there were such schools and to show that the white school was undervalued historically. But, this arbitrarily truncates the analysis and seems more like ax-grinding about the maltreatment of a group than an interesting premise for musical re-examination. In fact, players were as subject to geographical influence as they were to racial influence. The individual trumps the group. If you can recognize the playing of Leon Rappolo, Johnny Dodds, Buster Bailey or Frank Teschemacher, it's because they sound different. 

Dodds

Rapollo

                     

Tourism Prosthetics

We at the Institute blush at having to play catch-up in the competition to provide John and Jane Q. Public with new, stylish aids to tourism. In Jasper National Park, the recently opened Glacier Skywalk  now allows visitors to step out onto a glass-floored observation deck that juts out 100 feet over the Sunwapta Valley. 

Then, there's the Hualapal tribe's Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona.

Happily, our cadre of unpaid interns has conceived an idea that should bring home the bacon.

Question: What is the visitor's greatest impediment to touristic pleasure at museums? That we are forced to linger, legs weary, eyes bleary, in front of each "attraction" and to jostle for the best position to take photos. 

                                

Our solution? The world's first Museum-Camera@. No, not a Camera Museum

A camera museum, not the Museum-Camera@

(represented in this photo by our clueless graphics staff), but an actual art museum which is, itself, a camera.  

The walls of the museum will be essentially one enormous camera and the very act of your looking at an object will trip a shutter which takes a photo that is automatically downloaded to your phone. 

There will only be a small charge per photo and for an additional fee, we will send smarty-pants, art critic-worthy tweets and post your photos on Facebook, Tumbler or on the cyber-photo site that we plan to build ourselves: The Photographic Museum of the Museum-Camera@. 

At last, you will be able to move through a museum at lightning speed, knowing that you have effortlessly accomplished your primary goal: to document your visit. So, when you get home and are surrounded by friends and loved ones, you'll be able to say "I was there!" and enjoy the beautiful art work from the comfort of your home entertainment center.

Or, as we like to say at The Institute, "A picture is worth a thousand visits!"

They Say It's Spring

A much-delayed spring has cautiously crept into Boston. The Duplex playlist of 5.8.14 celebrates that. Download it, put it on your MP3 player and enjoy a walk through the Arboretum.  

Listen here.

Playlist:

Blossom Dearie "They Say It's Spring" from "Verve Jazz Masters 51" (1957), Verve 

Red Nichols & His Five Pennies "Rose Of Washington Square"  (1929), Brunswick 

Charles Lloyd "Forest Flower" from "Live at Monterey" (1967), Atlantic 

Howard McGhee "BLue Bell" from "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (1962), Blue Note 

Nat King Cole "Blue Gardenia" from "Ballads of the Day" (Jazz, 1956), Capital 

Bird and Diz "Bloomdido" from "Bird and Diz" (1950), Verve 

Tom Harrell "Song Flower" from "Stories" (Jazz, 1988), Contemporary 

Ella Fitzgerald "Honeysuckle Rose" (1970), MGM 

Gary Burton "Fleurette Africain" from "Lofty Fake Anagram" (1967), RCA Victor 

Cannonball Adderly "Rose Room" from "Cannonball" (1955), Emarcy 

Zoot Sims "Passion Flower" from "Zoot Sims Plays Ellington" (1980), Pablo 

Bill Evans "Days of Wine and Roses" from "Affinity" (1979), Warner Bros. 

The Greatest Pianist of All Time Contest

The "Who's the Greatest Drummer of All Time contest" at COS lists no African-American drummers. Not wanting to be outmaneuvered in the impending Greatest {  } of All Time-lists-battle, the Institute hereby presents:"Who's The Greatest Pianist of All Time?" The nominees are:

Peter Nero
Victor Borge
Neil Sedaka
Zez Confrey
Jim Brickman
Peter Duchin
Billy Joel
Elton John
Barry Manilow
Liberace

Remember: your vote doesn't count.

"God's Trombones" and S'more Phil WIlson

Carl Fontana

Phil Wilson

A massive stellar ensemble, featuring trombonists Carl Fontana and Phil Wilson, performs on this extended composition "God's Trombones," last heard during Boston Sackbut Week 40 years ago. Listen to this edition of The Duplex, which aired on WZBC on May 1, 2014 and my co-host for this show Dick Vacca and I will fill you in on the details.

Listen Here.

Playlist:

Carl Fontana w. Berklee Jazz Trombone Ensemble and Thursday Night Dues Band, "God's Trombones" (Jazz, 1974) 

Phil Wilson, "Flight of the Sackbut" (Jazz, 1974) 

Phil Wilson and the NDR Big Band, "Over the Rainbow" from "The Wizard of Oz Suite" (Jazz, 1993) on Capri 

Phil Wilson, Makoto Ozone, Chris Rathbun, Terri Lyne Carrington, "What Is This Thing Called Love" (Jazz, 1983), Radio Broadcast 

Woody Herman Orchestra, "It's a Lonesome Old Town" from "Woody Herman 1963" (Jazz, 1963) on Philips 

Phil Wilson, "In a Sentimental Mood" from "Getting It All Together" (Jazz, 1977) on Outrageous Records 

Donald Sterling and Civil Liberty (non-jazz)

It's hard to argue with the exile of the execrable L.A. Clippers basketball owner Donald Sterling. The famous taped conversation apparently represents just another episode in a foul ongoing racist pattern. But I really wish he wasn't quite the jerk that he is, because his case gives the push-back against the loss of civil liberties a bad name.

We're in an era where privacy is undergoing a full frontal attack. Between public cameras, internet surveillance and NSA snooping, there just doesn't seem any limit to what people think they're entitled to know about us. Although I know the Sterling case is not "formal," as when government or media is involved, the idea that we have the right to know if our conversations are being recorded is being eroded, as is the premise that if you're told they're not being recorded, what you say in private won't be used to publicly hang you. The story of Sterling's loathsome behavior and subsequent punishment has the effect of, if not justifying, at least affirming the ongoing impingement on our right to privacy.  

Do we really have to begin to guard all our private thoughts in a diary that is kept under lock and key? Do we have to sweep the room for bugging devices before we conduct intimate conversations? It creeps me out any time someone's private conversations are used to publicly hang them. I can't help thinking that someone at some time could have used what I said in my home to punish me; not racist rants, but I've had jobs and bosses that I complained about in language that could no doubt have been used against me. And god knows I've said things about the government that would probably get my butt in trouble. 

So, go ahead and hang Sterling, but please don't throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater.

Dr. (Fud) Livingston, I Presume

Joseph Anthony (Fud) Livingston (April 10, 1906 - March 25, 1957), Charleston, S.C. was a clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and arranger whose hey day was the 20's and early 30's. Listening to his arrangements from 1926-1930 was an eye opener to me. Fud uses a variety of musical devices from the jazz world and the "modernist" school of composition, resulting in arrangements that are stylistic anomalies. There were elements that were adapted into the classic "swing" big band style or were transmuted into the more bombastic "concerto for trumpet/clarinet" approach that we see in the late 1930's, However, the form itself, with its rapid juxtaposition between earthy blues/jazz and expanded harmonic conceits, largely disappeared. 

Listen here.

Playlist:

Ben Pollack and His Californians "Red Hot"(1924) on Victor 

Ben Pollack and His Californians "'Deed I Do"(1926)  on Victor 

Ben Pollack and His Californians "He's the Last Word" (1926) on Victor 

The Charleson Chasers "Feelin No Pain" (1927) on Columbia 

Miff Mole and His Little Molers "Imagination" (1927) on Okeh 

Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra "Humpty Dumpty" (1927) on Okeh 

The Devonshire Restaurant Dance Band "Sax Appeal" (1927) on Zonophone 

All Star Orchestra "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1927) on Victor 

Nat Shilkret And His Orchestra "Oh Baby"(1928) on Okeh 

Leonard Hayton’s Blue Four "Old Fashioned Girl (In A Gingham Gown)" (1928) on Vocalion 

Joe Venuti and His New Yorkers "Doin' Things"(1928) on Okeh 

Fred Elizalde and His Music "Singapore Sorrows" (1929) on Parlophone 

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra "Choo Choo"(1930) on Columbia 

Bing Crosby "I'm Through With Love"(1931) on Brunswick 

Lily Pons "The Blues Danube" (1936) on RKO 

Fud Livingston "Moo" (1932) on Arc 

The "Classical Tinge" in Jazz

Jelly Roll Morton famously cited the "Spanish Tinge," but jazz has also been influenced by "classical" music. I'm calling this the "Classical Tinge." This began well before the term "Third Stream" was coined by Gunther Schuller in the 1950's. In fact, as soon as jazz-influenced dance bands (or dance-influenced jazz bands) began to record, we began to hear this happen. I hope you enjoy this look at some of tunes from 1920-1931 that had a Classical Tinge.

Listen Here.

Playlist:

 Paul Whiteman Orchestra "The Japanese Sandman" (Jazz, 1920) on Victor 

 Paul Whiteman Orchestra "Thais" (Jazz, 1924) on Victor 

 Hitchs Happy Harmonists "Boneyard Shuffle" (Jazz, 1925) on Gennett 

 Ross Gorman And His Earl Carroll Orchestra "Rhythm of the Day"  (Jazz, 1925) on Columbia 

 Bix Beiderbecke  "Humpty Dumpty"  (Jazz, 1927) on Parlophone 

 Fletcher Henderson "Whiteman Stomp" (Jazz, 1927) on Columbia 

 Bix Beiderbecke "In a Mist"  (Jazz, 1927) on Okeh 

 Romain Baud "Flashes (By Bix)" Jazz, 2011) 

 Red Nicholls & His Five Pennies "Davenport Blues" (Jazz, 1927) on Victor 

 Carl Fenton's Orchestra "Delirium" (Jazz, 1927) on Brunswick 

 Carroll Dickerson and His Orchestra "Symphonic Raps" (Jazz, 1928) on Odeon 

 Red Nichols "Imagination" (Jazz, 1928) on Brunswick 

 Frankie Trumbauer And His Orchestra "Jubilee"(Jazz, 1928) on Parlophone 

 Paul Whiteman and His Orch "San" (Jazz, 1928) on Victor 

 Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra "My Gal Sal"  (Jazz, 1931) on Columbia 

 Red Nichols & His Five Pennies  "That's No Bargain" (Jazz, 1926) on Brunswick 

The Colbert Report

So, Stephen Colbert is taking over for David Letterman. Colbert is a fine actor, comedian, interviewer-even a good song and dance man, I'm told. And it's those talents that will be on display as star of "Late Night." His choice as successor to Letterman does not portend tectonic changes at media megalith CBS, which airs the program. His slyly transgressive persona will be persona non grata.

Can anyone believe that CBS will adapt it's basic economic structure to accommodate Colbert's shtick as a left-liberal masquerading as a right wing wingnut? Will they happily sacrifice a broad swath of their demographic, as the good natured political ribbing that has dominated the show-with resounding financial success-goes right in the dumper and the character Colbert played on Comedy Central is given free range to acerbically dissect the foibles of the American power structure? Rather than the usual fawning treatment, will the cavalcade of Hollywood guests (whose movies are produced and distributed by the same company that owns CBS) now be in for the kind of ironic diss served up on the Colbert Report?

Sure, it could happen. If the sponsors of the Late Show decide they'll be happy to pay the same rates for a smaller and smaller but hipper and hipper audience. I'd be surprised. More likely, they will shave down Colbert's canines and reduce his bitter irony to a wholesome pap. Not too quickly, though. No doubt the network, the sponsors and producers will devise a strategy to woo Colbert's old viewers while reassuring the mainstream audience by slowly mutating Colbert from his current complex persona into something with the ring of the renegade, as has been perfected by the ad industry to sell jeans.  

Colbert might change the multi-billion dollar culture of late night TV; and Chris Christie might get a job as a tolltaker on the George Washington bridge, but I'm afraid my money's on Proctor and Gamble, Mercedez Benz and Sheldon Adelstein. There's just too much money at stake. Meanwhile, good luck, Colbert, we love you, er we love your persona, we think we love you, but we hope that what we love is really you [voice trails off to infinite recursion]...

Boston Piano Players

Jaki Byard

On the April 3, 2014 edition of the Duplex Mystery Hour on WZBC, guest Dick Vacca, author of the Boston Jazz Chronicles and I take a look at some piano players with a Boston connection.

Listen to the show.

Playlist:

Sid Reinherz "The Boston Trot" 1923 on Gennett 

Jaki Byard "Spanish Tinge No 1" 1989 on Candid 

Sabby Lewis Orch "Boston Bounce" 1946 on Continental 

Dave McKenna "You Stepped Out of a Dream" 1991 on Concord Jazz 

Ran Blake and Sera Serpa "When Sunny Get Blue" 2010 on Inner Circle 

Joanne Brackeen "Dr. Chu Chow" 1990 on Concord Jazz 

Nat Pierce Septet "Gale Boogie" 1949 on Crystal-Tone 

James Williams "Love Letters" 1987 on Emarcy 

Dominique Eade and Jed Wilson "Never Let Me Go" 2006 on Jazz Project 

Dick Twardzik "A Crutch for the Crab" 1955 on Pacific Jazz 

Chick Corea "Pannonica" 2002 on Blue Note 

Ray Santisi "Pendulums"  2005) on Rasan 

Get Miff-Ed

Miff Mole was a leading light of early jazz trombone. He played with everyone-check out the playlist-and his playing always shone.

Listen to the show.

Playlist:

Lanin's Southern Serenaders. "Aunt Hagar's Children's Blues  (1921), Paramount

Lanin's Southern Serenaders. "Shake It Break It" (1921), Paramount

Original Memphis Five "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like Sister Kate" (1922), Perfect 

Original Memphis Five "Tin Roof Blues" 1923), Perfect 

Ray Miller and His Orchestra "Mama's Gone" (1924), Brunswick 

Bix & Sioux City Six "I'm Glad"  (Jazz, 1924), Gennett 

The Red Heads "Nervous Charlie" (Jazz, 1925), Pathe 

The Cottonpickers "Prince of Wails"  (Jazz, 1925), Brunswick 

Ray Miller and His Orchestra "Nobody Knows What a Red Headed Mama Can Do" (Jazz, 1924), Brunswick 

The Tennessee Tooters "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" (Jazz, 1925), Vocalion 

Bix Beiderbecke & Sioux City Six "Flock O' Blues" (Jazz, 1925), Gennett 

Red And Miff's Stompers "Alabama Stomp" (Jazz, 1926), Edison 

Red And Miff's Stompers "The Stampede" (Jazz, 1926), Edison 

Red Nichols & His Five Pennies "That's No Bargain" (Jazz, 1926), Vocalion 

The Arkansas Travelers "Sensation" (Jazz, 1927), Harmony 

Miff Mole and his Little Molars "I Ain't Got Nobody"(Jazz, 1927), Okeh 

The Six Hottentots "The Memphis Blues"(Jazz, 1927), Domino 

VIsiting the Abel Meeropol Archive

Abel Meeropol, under the pen name of Lewis Allan, was the composer of the song "Strange Fruit." I'm producing an animation about the amazing story of the song's creation and its linkage to Billie Holliday, so it was a natural to pay a visit to the Howard Gottlieb Archival Center at Boston University, where his papers are stored. 

An internet search will easily get you biographical details of Meeropol's life, but in this post, my aim is to give you a sense of how these documents brought me closer to the person.


Read and see more.

The Edge of Schmaltz

Schmaltz-easy to say, but how do we really define it? Where does it lay along the slippery border between cheese, camp, marginal taste, pathos, bathos and emotional catharsis?  Is the very use of the word cringe-inducing? Not to me. One era's hip is often another era's schmaltz. Sometimes there's great musicianship involved. Is that enough to rescue the song or not? Sometimes the musicians are amateurish, but through sheer dint of sincerely, a hoary tune or corny lyric works. In one mood, a song sets your teeth on edge and in another mood, you reach for the handkerchief. 

Some of the folks in this playlist will be no surprise, some may bemuse and some annoy, but that's my job. 

Here's The Show.

Blue Stars "Hernando´s Hideaway" from "Jazz in Paris" (1955) on Barclay 

Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra "With a Song in My Heart" from "Dancing With Zig" (1950) on MGM 

Sarah Vaughn "Jim" from "w. Clifford Brown" (Jazz, 1954) on EmArcy  

Andre Previn "Mad About The Boy" from "Previn at the Piano" (1958) on RCA 

Cannonball Adderly "Shake a Lady" from "Domination" (1965) on Capital 

Chet Baker "Time After Time" from "Time After Time" (2002) on GFS 

Sam The Man Taylor "Tara's Theme" from "Blue Mist" (1955) on MGM 

Johnny Hartman "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" from "Sings" (1947) on Savoy 

Lena Horne "Beale St Blues" from "Swinging Lena Horne" (1962) on Coronet 

Matt Dennis "A Trout No Doubt" from "Saturday Date" (1957) on Tops 

Errol Garner "April In Paris" from "Concert By the Sea" (1956) on Philips 

Frank Sinatra "Autumn in New York" from "That Old Feeling" (1956) on Columbia 

Earl Hines "Why Must We Part" from ". . . And His Orchestra" (1933) on Jazz Archives 

Esperanza Spaulding "Precious" from "Esperanza Spaulding" (2008) on Heads Up 

Freddie Hubbard "I Got It Bad (And That ain't Good)" from "The Body and The Soul" (1963) on Impulse 

Bobby Hackett "Stairway to The Stars" from "Dream Awhile" (1961) on Columbia