5/4 on 5/4 (May 4)

Got this idea from my friend Michael Volpe. Here are nine great tunes in a time signature that used to be odd, but which still is.

(goes to 4/4 in the bridge)












And, of course-

Boston Jazz Venues-Come and Gone

With the help of a bunch of other people,  I compiled a list of venues in Boston that had live jazz, at least for a while. The list covers some ground, but is far from complete. Our good friend Dick Vacca has sent a new batch of entries, which you will see below my list. Be sure to check out his blog The Troy Street Observer

Izzy Ort's bar and Grill

1369 Club,

Accurate Records Loft, 
Ahmed's,

Arbor House, 

Ark of the Covenant, 

Back Bay Hilton,  
Backstreet,

Beantown Jazz Festival, 

Bebop, 

Beehive, 

Bella Luna, 

Berklee, 

Betty's Rolls Royce, 
Boston Arts Festival

Boston Conservatory at Berklee. 

Boston Globe Jazz Festival, 

BPL, 

Brothers in Brookline, 

CasaBlanca, 

CCP Studios, 

Charles St. Playhouse, 

Choppin Blok, 
Club 47

Club Zircon, 

Connelly's, 

Copley Plaza Bar, 

Costello's, 

Cronins, 

Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen, 

Debbie's, 

Doyle's, 

Elbow Room, 

Ellis Room, 

Essex Hotel bar, 

Estelle's, 

Fairmount Grille, 

Friends of Great Black Music loft, 

Gallery East, 

Goodlife, 

Greene St Grill Cambridge,) Green St,( JP), 

Hasty Pudding, 

Hi Lo Lounge, 
Hotel Avery,

Hyde Park Jazz Festival, 

Inn Square Men's Bar. 

Izzy Ort's

Jazz Workshop/Pall's Mall, 

Joes, 

Johnny D's, 

Jonathan Swift's, 
Kresge Auditorium

Lennie's on the Turnpike, 

Les Zygomates, 

Lilypad,

Lizard Lounge, 

lue Parrot, 

Lulu White's, 

Magnolia Loft. 

Merry Go Round at the Copley Plaza, 

Michael's, 

Middle East Corner, 

Midway, 

Modern Theater, 

Most of the strip clubs had Hammond Trios, 

NEC, 

Nightstage, 

OCBC, 

Outpost 186,

Oxford Ale house, 

Paine Hall, 

Paris 25, 

Parker House, 

Performance Center in the Garage, 

Playground Series at the loft on Harrison Ave, 
Playland,

Plough and Stars, 

Pooh's Pub, 

Ramsey/Toy VFW Post, Dorchester, 

Real Deal jazz club at the Cambridge Multicultural Center, 

Regattabar, 

Rise Club
Ryles, 

Sandy's, 

Satch's, 

Savoy

Scotch and Sirloin, 

Sculler's, 

Slades, 

Space, 

Speakeasy, 

Starlite Roof, 

Stone Soup, 

Storyville,

Streetfood, 

Studio Red Top, 

Sunflower Cafe, 

Swifts, 

the (old)Winery, 

Thelonius Monkfish, 

Third Life Studio, 

Top of the Hub, 

various churches and libraries.

Village Smokehouse in Brookline, 
Vouros Bakery

Wally's, 
WBUR,

Western Front, 

WGBH, 

Willow, 

Wurst Haus, 
Your Father's Moustache

Zeitgeist Gallery 

From Dick:

These are mainly Boston jazz venues, or suburban spots inside Route 495, in operation from 1972 onward, but there are a few from the 1960s. Individual schools and churches are not included. And there were rock rooms like the Channel and the Paradise that had jazz on occasion, but not often enough to make the list.

Downtown Crossing/State St/Quincy Mkt
Bay Tower Room
Cafe Fleuri, Meridien Hotel
Chez Freddie
City Hall Plaza
Concerts on the Common
Cricket's
Gallagher's
Lily's
Michael's Waterfront
Sir Harry's

Theatre District
1-2-3 Lounge
Bradford Hotel Grand Ballroom
Caribe Lounge
Four Corners
Stuart Manor
The Vagabond
Tic Toc
Varty's Jazz Room

Park Square
Number 3 Lounge
Playboy Club
Saxony
The Other Side

Back Bay
Danny's
Darbury Room, became The Point After
Hatch Shell
Hotel Eliot Lounge
ICA Theatre
Jason's
Lenox Hotel
My Apartment Lounge
Office Lounge
Turner Fisheries

Huntington Ave
Club Symphony
Gardner Museum
Museum of Fine Arts
Zachary's

Roxbury/South End
Desert Lounge
Handy's Grill
Juice and Jazz
Piano Factory
Pioneer Club
Rainbow Lounge
Savoy on the Hill
The Station
Tinker's

Dorchester
Playhouse in the Park (Elma Lewis, Franklin Park)
Strand Theatre

Kenmore Square
Kix
Cafe Yana

East Boston
Airport Hilton
P.J.'s Lounge

Brookline/Brighton
Kismet Lounge
Papillon
Walters

Cambridge/Somerville
Atrium Lounge
Cantares
Lai-Lai
Spinnaker Lounge (Hyatt)
Springfields
Turtle Cafe

West of Boston
Bonfire, Westborough
Colonial Inn, Concord
Cottage Crest, Waltham
Decordova Museum, Lincoln
Ephriam's, Sudbury
Finally Michael's, Framingham
Matrix, Natick
Piety Corner Gardens, Waltham
Sticky Wicket, Hopkinton

North of Boston
Buddy's, Revere
Cafe Beaujolais, Gloucester
Club Caravan, Revere
Ebb Tide, Revere Beach
Lakeside, Topsfield
Oceanside Jazz and Big Band Festival, Winthrop
Romie's, Danvers
Stouffer's Bedford Glen Hotel, Bedford
The Surf, Revere Beach
Wagon Wheels, West Peabody

South of Boston
Boston Jazz Society's Jazz BBQ
Joseph's, Braintree
Great Woods Performance Center

Water Music's Jazz Boat

And you could always call the Jazzline at 262-1300

Recent Concert Reviews

The crowd sings "Happy Birthday" to Lee Konitz after his 90th Birthday celebration concert. My coverage is at Artsfuse.org

Here's Brian Lynch burning on trumpet during the Curtis Brothers concert at the Regatta Bar. My coverage is here.

Martin Torgoff on the DuPlex

I was joined on the DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour of 12.28.17 by Martin Torgoff, author of Bop Apocalypse; Jazz, Race, The Beats and Drugs. It was an interesting, wide-ranging conversation that used music as a guideline, as per the playlist below.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

Louis Armstrong, Muggles. Fred Robinson, trombone; Jimmy Strong, clarinet; Earl Hines, piano; Mancy Carr banjo, and Zutty Singleton on drums.

Mezz Mezzrow, Revolutionary Blues. Tommy Ladnier, Sidney de Paris, t / Mezz Mezzrow, cl / James P. Johnson, p / Teddy Bunn, g / Elmer James, b / Zutty Singleton, d.

Rosetta Howard, If You’re A Viper. With The Harlem Hamfats 

Count Basie Orchestra, Every Tub. 

Billie Holiday, I Must Have That Man. Buck Clayton, t / Edmond Hall, cl / Lester Young, ts / James Sherman, p / Freddy Green, g / Walter Page, sb / Joe Jones, d

Charlie Parker, Ko Ko. Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie played piano, but trumpet here instead of Miles Davis

Charlie Parker, Moose the Mooch. Miles Davis-tp, Lucky Thompson-tenor and Dodo Marmarosa-piano, Vic Macmillan-bass, Arvin Garrison-drums

Charlie Parker, Lover Man. Charlie Parker (alto sax), Howard McGhee (trumpet), Jimmy Bunn (piano), Bob Kesterson (bass), Roy Porter (drums)

Wardell Gray, The Chase. Bass-Don Bagley , Drums –Chico Hamilton, piano-Bobby Tucker B

• Tenor Saxophone –Dexter Gordon, Wardell Grey 

• 
  

Miles Davis, Round Midnight. Miles Davis – trumpet, Paul Chambers-bass, John Coltrane – tenor-Red Garland – piano, Philly Joe Jones – drums

John Coltrane, My Favorite Things. McCoy Tyner piano, Steve Davis bass, Elvin Jones drums 

Chet Baker Vocals: A New Emotional Space

There were a lot of transitions and innovations in pop and jazz singing during the 1950's. Some of these were triggered by technology-tape recording/editing, hi fi, stereo, new microphones and the long playing record (LP). Other transitions reflected innovations in arranging and instrumentation and the movement of "race music" into the mainstream via rock and roll. Leaving aside innovators in blues, R&B and rock and roll, there were two musicians who effected changes in vocal jazz and pop: Frank Sinatra and yes, Chet Baker.

Frank Sinatra and his arrangers Billy May and Nelson Riddle in "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955) and "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" (1956) bridged a popular music gap and showed that songs could swing and still deliver an intimate romantic message. 

Chet Baker's style of singing on "Chet Baker Sings" (1954) finished off what Bing Crosby started. Crosby had initiated the movement from "hot" to "cool," as he taught singers how to use the microphone. But, even though Bing's style was relatively laid back, he still used "hot" techniques like vibrato, slurs and small ornamentations to "sell" the tune. This continued to be the standard, but Baker took it a step further, either eliminating or dramatically taking down the heat of these techniques. Also, in the range and timbre of his voice, he did not sound as a man singing was supposed to. Given the negative response by fellow musicians, friends and critics, it took some guts for Baker to continue to sing.

Louis Prima

Baker was one in a long line of trumpet players who sang. Louis Armstrong, Jabbo Smith, Roy Eldridge, Bunny Berigan, Louis Prima, Hot Lips Page and Dizzy Gillespie all sang well. They thought of themselves as entertainers, liked to sing and were happy to give their chops a break. Berigan's style was lighter, but even after he had a hit with "I Can't Get Started," he almost always deferred to a band singer and just played. The rest of those guys sang with a ballsier approach, sometimes ironic or sly, often bluesy. Armstrong always sang romantic tunes, but I hear an artfulness that separates the singer from the object of his affection and the song itself becomes the object. He did sing with great tenderness in the last phase of his career. Baker's singing was the first in this lineage that said out loud: "This is what it means to be vulnerable." 

Baker's trumpet playing was not unique. It was distinguishable from but similar to the playing of others active at that time, like Jack Sheldon, Don Fagerquist, Don Joseph, Tony Fruscella and John Eardley. Of these, only Jack Sheldon also sang. His voice was better than Baker's, but his singing style ranged from cooing drollness to belting. To Sheldon, romantic meant sexy, while Chet was never so indiscreet, or overt. His sexiness was hidden below layers of romanticism and self-protection. 

Jimmy Scott

Rhythmically and in note choice, Baker's singing paralleled his playing. But the fragility, tremulousness and high tenor range of his voice amplified the vulnerable quality of the music. The only voice like it belonged to (Little) Jimmy Scott, who had a hit in 1950 with Lionel Hampton's "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and who showed up in the same year with Charlie Parker, singing "Embraceable You," but Scott sang with all of the heat that Baker eschewed.

Reading about Baker's foray into singing is like wading into a critical abattoir. Almost no one liked it-musicians, friends or critics. 

There are conflicting stories about how Baker's vocals got recorded. Some say he demanded it and that owner of the Pacific jazz label Dick Bock balked. Others say that Bock wanted it and Baker resisted. Either way, it seems to be true that Baker's inexperience(or ineptitude) made for innumerable retakes, marathon sessions and a lot of audio cutting and pasting. 

Two things were not subject to criticism. One was his phrasing, which rhythmically paralleled his playing. The second was his scatting note choice, which reflected the melodic gift he shows in his trumpet solos.

There was a lot of criticism about his singing out of tune. I'm pretty sensitive to people staying in tune and I don't hear the problem very much, except on some held notes-the hardest to sing in tune and beyond his vocal support system.

Critics blasted his lack of affect, saying his singing lacked emotional weight. Much was made about the girlish, non-masculine quality of his voice. Often this critique was accompanied by an analysis of Baker's life choices-drug use and callousness toward women. People want the artist's life to reflect directly the qualities they find in the art and positive and negative projections about Baker were off the charts. He was worshipped and reviled. Some thought he sang (and looked) like an angel. Others saw him nod out or act like a cad and heard that in the music. 

What I think made critics most uncomfortable is that Baker didn't sing like a man. I've heard people ask, when they heard Baker sing, whether that was a man or a woman. One can only imagine how many such comments were passed in the day. For most of its history, jazz has been a macho culture. Sexual ambiguity or gay-ness were subjects of derision. Chet was heterosexual, but for him to sing the way he did was almost to "come out." Of course, Baker wasn't consciously making a political-sexual point. When he responded to interviewers who challenged his masculinity, he made certain to reaffirm that he liked girls, not "fellers."

Moving from being just a trumpet player to becoming a jazz vocalist/leading man, seeing the response it got from critics and especially from fellow musicians, cannot have been easy. Baker may or may not have been using heavy drugs before "Chet Baker Sings," but there's no doubt that he became more deeply enmeshed in heroin and speed during this period. It's not a big stretch to think that drugs and the incredibly strong response by women to his singing helped Baker weather the brickbats and continue to sing. 

It's appropriate that his most famous vocal tune is "My Funny Valentine." In this Rodgers and Hart tune, we have a psychic match between performer and song. This is a song that spells out the imperfections of the lover ("is your figure less than greek, is your mouth a little weak, when you open it to speak are you smart"). Look at the title itself-my "funny" valentine; not that the lover is funny/humorous, but funny as in-how did this happen-how did I end up with someone like you. This is love as mystery, song as mystery, sung by a musician whose life was lived publicly, but who was a mystery. Yes, we know the biographical facts of Baker's life, but the inner life was shrouded in layers of romanticism and self-protection.

It's difficult to show the influence Baker had, as he didn't overtly inspire a generation of male singers. Most tenor-range jazz vocalists remained more beholden to older approaches. Jimmy Scott, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Mose Allison, Oscar Brown, Jr., Mark Murphy, Jackie Paris and Sammy Davis, Jr. were all much "hotter" singers. 

But I contend that Chet Baker changed the "field" and in so doing influenced these singers. He brought the ethos of cool to a kind of climax by moving into territory that had once belonged only to female vocalists and opened up the emotional space to show vulnerability; a space that male singers had previously shied away from and which they were now more likely to inhabit. 

Ironic that Chet Baker, who created such distance between himself from others was able to transmute this distance into a kind of intimacy that had rarely, if ever, been expressed in the pop-jazz male voice.

Alabama Musical Tribute

I dedicated this edition of the DuPlex Mystery jazz hour to the good people of Alabama who, in the election of 12.12.17 pulled us back from the brink of a moral and political catastrophe (Roy Moore). An unusually eclectic show.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

The Black Birds Of Paradise-"Bugahoma Blues"-1927. Gennett

Lotte Lenya und "The three Admirals", Theo Mackeben & Jazz-Orchester-Alabama-Song. 1930-Ultraphon

Johnny Smith-"Stars Fell on Alabama"-1956. Roost

Etta James - "I'd Rather Go Blind" Muscle shoals-1967. Cadet

Alabama Jug Band - "Jazz it Blues" Its a studio band lead by Willie the Lion Smith designed to cash in on the "jug bang" craze. 1934. Decca

Blind Boys of Alabama-"People Get Ready"-2002. Real World Records

Alabama Shakes "Don't Wanna Fight" Live on KCRW 2015

W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues Band-"St Louis Blues" -1922. Victor

Sun Ra-"Days of Happiness". Sun Ra-p Richard Williams-b Luqman Ali-d Recorded 1979. El Saturn records

Ella and Louis "Stars Fell on Alabama"- 1956. Verve

John Coltrane-"Alabama"-Live at Birdland 1963. Impulse

Duke Ellington - "Concerto For Cootie"-Cootie Williams, Mobile Alabama-1940. Victor

Nat Cole -"Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me"- 1944. Capital

Review: The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums

Will Friedwald has written a nice fat, fact-laden book, closely analyzing each song on the 51 albums he's chosen. Comparing his responses to one's own is interesting, but what really makes this book valuable is the extensive context he provides for each album.

Friedwald has been operating in the world of jazz and pop vocals for a long time and gives the reader insider history. He looks at where the album fits in the career path of the artist, how the arrangers-and often the musicians-ended up working on the project, background on the composers of the tunes, the dope on the record label people who decided to back the project and comparisons with other recordings of the song; an extensive historical framework for the albums.

There's a lot of dish-you'll learn how Peggy Lee's alcoholic husband figured into the making of "Black Coffee." But more interestingly, some of the broad conclusions he draws are absolutely new and spot on-Sinatra did show that songs taken in swinging tempos could also be sexy and romantic; tragic divas are given more serious consideration; the use of verses were probably eschewed in the swing era because they tended to be rubato (not in tempo) and therefore not danceable.

If you already know the music, it's interesting to compare his responses to your own, but if you're not, his prose reads well enough that it can be enjoyed on its own. In any case, all this analysis is an excellent goad to check out the music you don't know-for personal discovery purposes and to reality check Friedwald's take. For example:

I was not familiar with Carmen McRae's album Live at the Dug and checking it out was a pleasure. On the other hand...Here's what he says about her version of "I Could Have told You": "When she sings 'making promises he'll never keep,' instead of stretching the last word the way you might expect, she cuts it off shortly, and follows it with a few minor notes for emphasis-as if to literally illustrate the sound of a promise unkept." I then listened to the tune. She repeats that line a couple of times in the song and I don't know what Friedwald means by "cutting it off," but in fact, both times she holds out the note for several beats. It seems as though he thought he had a nice metaphorical point and stretched the musical facts to fit. Although I disagreed with this and some of his other evaluations and choice of artists (Tiny Tim the most obvious example), I found the process pretty fascinating. 

And yes, I do have a laundry list of bones to pick:
p.14 Was Astaire a "high baritone"? Can it be said that the Armstrong and Astaire Verve records "couldn't have been made without him[Oscar Peterson]?" Was Peterson always up to the task? For sure, but... 
p.25 What does a "coarse groove" 78 mean?
p.78 Harry Edison's "beeping trumpet"? A phrase used several times.
p.82 In the 30's and 40's, there was really no generation gap and everyone listened to Bing?
p.85 Was it really "every man for himself" in the 1920's, without any arrangements?
p.122 I think you DO need big chops to put over "Midnight Sun."
p.134 Scatting at its best is a minor annoyance?
p.194 Loesser's "cryptic, almost indecipherable line"? Well, Sheep's Eye is a gin produced by the Lickerish Tooth company. 
p.197 L, H&R were NOT the only ones doing what they did. There was the Blue Stars of Paris and the Double Six of Paris. And, you don't talk about the great "Every Tub" in your Sing a Song of Basie coverage.
p. 201 A trumpet mute "attaches to the bell"?
p.234 Carmen McRae DOES sound like herself.
p.268 Miles never played "Bye Bye Blackbird" at a "slow crawl."
p.314  Venuti was "by far the greatest soloist" on violin? Only if you restrict it to the 20's.
p.385 Ruby Braff was a cornetist, not a trumpettist.

But really, these are minor quibbles. If you're into vocals, check this book out.

Autumn Jazz Songs

These songs are suffused with an introspective, melancholy and somewhat rueful quality that distinguishes them from the music of other seasons. This made for one of the most chill DuPlex Mystery Jazz hours.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

Chet Baker and Paul Desmond "Autumn Leaves" from "She Was Too Good to Me" (1974) on CTI

Dinah Washington "September in the Rain" from "September in the Rain"  (1960) on Mercury

Woody Herman & His Orchestra "Early Autumn" from "Early Autumn" (1948) on Capital

Double Six of Paris "Early Autumn" from "Swingin' Singin'" (1962) on Philips

Bob Dorough "Tis Autumn" from "Just About Everything" (1966) on Inner city

Art Farmer "Autumn Nocturne" from "Art Farmer Plays" (1955) on Prestige

Charlie Mariano "Autumn in New York" from "New Sounds from Boston" (1951) on Prestige

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman "Autumn Serenade" from "John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman" (1963) on Impulse

Django Reinhart & Hunert Rostaing "September Song" (1947) on Classics

Paul Bley "Autumn Breeze" from "Paul Bley" (1954) on Emarcy

Kenny Drew Trio "Autumn in Rome" from "Kenny Drew Trio" (2013) on Afterbeat

Yves Montand "Les Feuilles Mortes " from "Récital au Théâtre de L'Etoile" (1954) on Odeon

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong "Autumn in New York" from "Ella and Louis" (1957) on Verve

An Hour With Bunny Berigan

The DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour of 11.2.17 featured the stellar trumpet and vocals of Bunny Berigan. He had great range, power, flexibility and ideas.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

Roy Bargy "Raisin' the Rent" 1933 on Victor

The Boswell Sister "Everybody Loves My Baby" 1932 on Brunswick

Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra "Troubled" 1934 on Victor

Bunny Berigan · Gene Gifford and His Orchestra "Nuthin' But the Blues" 1935 on Victor

Benny Goodman & His Orchestra "Sometimes I'm happy" 1935 on Victor

Benny Goodman & His Orchestra "King Porter Stomp" 1935 on Victor

Glenn Miller Orch w. Berigan "Solo Hop" 1935 on Columbia

Bunny Berigan and his Blue Boys "Chicken and Waffles" 1935 on Decca

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "On Your Toes" 1935 on Victor

Bunny Berigan and his Blue Boys "Swing Mr Charlie" 1936 on Brunswick

Bunny Berigan "i Can't Get Started" 1936 on Vocalion

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "A Melody From the Sky" 1936 on Vocalion

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "Black Bottom" 1937 on Victor

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "Prisoner's Song" 1937 on Victor

Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra "Song of India" 1937 on Victor

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "Jazz Me Blues" 1939 on Victor

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "Ain't She Sweet" 1939 on Victor

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra "Me and My Melinda" 1942 on Victor

Room-With-Jazz or Jazz Room?

There's a very big difference between a room with jazz and a jazz room. 

    `                                 
In a room with jazz, everyone is intent on their conversation and their food. If someone claps at the end of a tune, scattered people will join in as a guilty afterthought. 

In a jazz room, people are there to listen. Even if people are talking, most are using enough radar to ebb and flow with the music. Occasional bursts of "yea!" and "alright!" break through and individual solos are rewarded with applause. Rather than having to "work the crowd," the musicians can work WITH them.

Last night I was in a room-with-jazz. It kinda sucked.

The focus is on food and food has become a stable means of income for many places that before only sold drinks. I don't like it, but I get it.

As many tables as possible get squeezed into every possible space. Of course, that's always been the way. But now, rather than a few cocktail servers occasionally drifting by with drinks, you have a large waitstaff with menus, lots of plates, complicated cleanups and bill paying. Last night I was nearly run into or nearly ran into waiters four times. And, since the orientation of the tables is about maximizing the space, there are many seats that have no eye-line to the stage. If you go through the necessary gyrations to face the stage, I hope you have your chiropractor on speed dial. Alright, this is all very curmudgeonly. Full credit to the management of the place for having an actual bandstand and for hiring excellent musicians. The musicians are playing and are getting paid-that's good. I listened, as a few other people may listen, carefully. But, it remains intractably irritating to me that musicians who have devoted their lives to mastering this music are not being given the attention and respect they deserve. I don't think that performers as skilled in any other musical genre are treated this way.

"I eschew it."

A Big Sid Catlett Show

The Duplex of 10.19.17 featured the work of the great drummer Sid Catlett. As the playlist shows, he could play in any jazz style and make it work. He was also a master showman with the sticks. To see him in action, go here: https://youtu.be/MPSYtLbBvtQ. Enjoy the show.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

Benny Carter - "Swing It" Benny Carter, vocal, as, ‪Buster Bailey (cl as) Omer Simeon (as) Elmer Williams Chu Berry (ts cl) Horace Henderson (p) Bob Lessey (g) Israel Crosby(b) Sidney Catlett (d)‬, Columbia 1933

Fletcher Henderson - "Jangled Nerves" Dick Vance Joe Thomas Roy Eldridge (tp) Fernando Arbello Ed Cuffee (tb) Buster Bailey (cl as) OmerSimeon (as) Elmer Williams Chu Berry (ts cl) Horace Henderson (p) Bob Lessey (g) Israel Crosby(b) Sidney Catlett (d) Victor 1936

New Orleans Feetwarmers and Sidney Bechet "Shake it and Break It" S. Bechet (ss), S. de Paris (tp), S. Williams (tb), C. Jackson (p), B. Addis (g), W. Braud (b), S. Catlett (d) 1940 on VIctor

John Kirby Sextet "Jumping in the Pump Room" Charlie Shavers,cl:Buster Baily,as:Russel Procope,p:Billy Kyle, b:John Kirby,big sid catlett-d 1940 on Okeh, 1940

Benny Goodman "Pound Ridge"-Benny Goodman, cl, dir: Billy Butterfield, Jimmy Maxwell, Cootie Williams, Al Davis, t / Lou McGarity, Cutty Cutshall, tb / Skippy Martin, as, a / Clint Neagley, as / Vido Musso, George Berg, ts / Charles "Chuck" Gentry, bar / Mel Powell, p, a / Tom Morgan, g / John Simmons, sb / Sid Catlett, Chicago, 1941.

Eddie Condon w. Lee Wiley "Down With Love" from The Town Hall Concerts Forty-Four and Forty-Five-Eugene Schroeder-p· Sid Weiss-b· Sid Catlett-d· Lee Wileyv· Billy Butterfield-tp Eddie Condon -guitar, Monmouth Evergreen1944

Teddy WIlson Sextet "Don't be that way" The Onyx Club Original Live Recordings 1944, Teddy Wilson (piano), Edmond Hall (clarinet), Emmett Berry (trumpet), Benny Morton (trombone), Slam Stewart (bass), Sidney Catlett (drums) 1944 on Columbia

Esquire All Stars jazz concert "Rose Room," Art Tatum - piano, Big Sid Catlett-drums, Oscar Pettiford - bass, Barney Bigard - clarinet,  Christy Records 1945

Big Sid Catlett's Band, "Love For Scale" -Joe Guy (tp), Bull Moose Jackson (as), Bumps Myers and Illinois Jacquet (ts), Horace Henderson (p), Al Casey (g) and John Simmons (b). Capital 1945 

Big Sid Catlett and His AllStars "Humoresque Boogie"- Catlett, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (ts), Bill Gooden (org,celeste,vcl), Pete Johnson (p), Jimmy Shirley (g) and Gene Ramey (b). Manor 1946 

Dizzy Gillespie with Charlie Parker, "Salt Peanuts," Sidney 'Big Sid' Catlett, Al Haig, and Curly Russell. 1945 Guild

John Kirby Sextet Musicomania-Charlie Shavers - trumpet, Buster Bailey - clarinet, Charlie Holmes - alto saxophone Billy Kyle - piano, John Kirby - bass, film-Sepia Cinderella, 1947

JATP "Sid Flips His Lid," Sid Catlett, d., Charlie Shavers, tpt, Hank jones, P, Verve 1947

New Ears and the New Jazz of the 1950's

One of the fascinating aspects of the "new" jazz music of the mid-late 1950's. was the background of its creators. Three spent formative years in rhythm and Blues bands: Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Billy Higgins. Charlie Haden came from a folk-country background. Cecil Taylor was immersed in contemporary classical music. Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd were "Dixieland" players. Henry Grimes studied classical and played R&B gigs. Dennis Charles came from traditional Caribbean music.

The Bebop language had so taken hold that subsequent 1950's jazz styles were deeply in its debt[all these names could have quotation marks around them]: Cool, West Coast, the Tristano school, Hard Bop, Chamber jazz, Soul Jazz. 

Questions present themselves: Was it easier for these players to make the dramatic musical leap they did because they were less in thrall to bop? If so, why? One thing strikes me-the language of bop is so rich and deep that it can simply be addictive. Once you're inside it, it's easy to become obsessed with exploring it.