As we so often find with jazz performers, vocalist Helen Merrill started young-age 14 and from the beginning, she managed to be both mellow and edgy. On this 7.20.17 edition of the DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour on WZBC, apart from her jazz work, you will hear a few recordings made to try to boost her profile outside jazz.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST
Earl Hines w. Helen Merrill "A Cigarette For Company" 1942 on D'Oro

"Don't explain" "What's New" You'd Be so Nice to Come Home to" "Falling in Love With Love" from "Helen Merrill Featuring Clifford Brown" (Jazz, 1954) on EmArcy 

"Dream of You" "Summertime" "Let Me Love You"  "I'm Just a Lucky so-And-So" Helen Merrill  arr. by Gil Evans, from Collaboration 1956 on Emarcy

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"  Helen Merrill from "American Country Songs" 1959 on Atco

"These foolish things" Helen Merrill from "Helen Merrill Sings Italian Songs" 1960 on RCA Italiana

"Smog" from "Helen Merrill Sings Italian Songs" 1960 on RCA Italiana

"Cannatella" Helen Merrill from "The Artistry of Helen Merrill"  1965) on Mainstream

"Baltimore Oriole" Helen Merrill from "The Feeling Is Mutual" 1965 on Milestone

"What is this Thing Called Love" Helen Merrill from "The Feeling Is Mutual" 1965 on Milestone

"A Man and A Woman" Helen Merrill  from "Bossa Nova in Tokyo"  1967 on Victor

"Norwegian Wood" Helen Merrill  from "Helen Merrill Sings the Beatles" 1970 on EMI

"Vera Cruz" Helen Merrill  from "Casa Forte"1980 on Mercury

"Natural Sounds"Helen Merrill  from "Casa Forte" 1980 on Mercury

 "When Lights Are Low" "And Still She Is With Me" "Music Makers" from "Music Makers" 1986 on owl

"Just Friends" Helen Merrill w. Stan Getz  from "Helen Merrill w. Stan Getz"1989 on Emarcy

"Out of This World"  Helen Merrill from "Clear Out Of This World" 1992 on Emarcy

"I'll Remember April"  "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" Helen Merrill  from "Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown"  1994 on Verve

Joe Gordon and Confreres

On the 4.11.17 edition of the DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour, WZBC, guest Dick Vacca and I took a look at the work and life of trumpeter Joe Gordon. We seeded the program with the work of some of his influences, as you will see by the discography.

LISTEN HERE

DISCOGRAPHY

Charlie Parker "Scrapple from the Apple" from "Boston 1952" on Uptown

Joe Gordon "Lady Bob" from "Joe Gordon: Early Sessions" 1954 on Fresh Sounds

Fats Navarro "Barry's Bop" from "Vol. 2 Nostalgia" 1947 on BYG

Joe Gordon & Scott LaFaro "Evening Lights" from "Joe Gordon Early Sessions" 1954 on Fresh Sounds

Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie "Trumpet Blues" from "Roy and Diz" 1954 on Verve

Horace Silver "Shoutin Out" from "Silver's Blue" 1956 on Cbs

Dizzy Gillespie Big Band "A Night in Tunisia" from "Birks Works" 1956 on Verve

Clifford Brown "Stockholm Sweetnin" from "Metronome and Vogue Masters" 1953 on Definitive

Herb Pomeroy Big Band "Feather Merchant" from "Life is a Many Splendored Gig" 1957 on Fresh Sounds

Herb Pomeroy Big Band "Less Talk" from "Life is a Many Splendored Gig" 1957 on Fresh Sounds

Lambert Hendricks and Ross "Centerpiece" from "Hottest New Group in Jazz" 1960 on Columbia

Shelly Manne and His Men "Nightingale" from "Live At the Black Hawk" 1959) on ‪Contemporary‬

Thelonius Monk "Four In One" from "T. Monk at the Black Hawk"1960 on Ojc

Kenny Dorham "The Prophet" from "Live at the Cafe Bohemia Vol2" 1956 on Blue Note

Harold Land "Don't Explain" from "West Coast Blues" 1956 on OJCCD

Joe Gordon "Non-Vienese Waltz Blues" from "Lookin' Good!" 1961 on ‪Contemporary‬

Blue Mitchell "I'll Close My Eyes"  from Blues Moods, 1960 on Riverside

Joe Gordon "Mariana" from "Lookin' Good!" 1961 on ‪Contemporary‬

Jimmy Woods "Anticipation" from "The Awakening" 1961 on ‪Contemporary‬

May-nard.

The amazing technicolor Maynard Ferguson was featured on The DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour on WZBC on 5.4.17. On this show, we stuck to the years between 1949-1962.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

"All The Things You Are." Charlie Barnet  from "The Capital Big Band Sessions" 1949 on Capital

"What's New." Stan Kenton, 1951 on Capital

"Move"  Clark Terry, Clifford Brown, Maynard Ferguson, Trumpet, Herb Geller-Alto Sax Harold Land, Tenor Saxophone Junior Mance-Piano, Keter Betts, George Morrow - Bass, Max Roach - Drums; from "Jam Session" 1954 on Emarcy

Autumn Leaves "Maynard Ferguson Octet" Maynard Ferguson (tp, b-tp, v-tb), Conte Candoli (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Herb Geller (as), Georgie Auld (ts), Bob Gordon (bs), Ian Bernard (p), Red Callender (b), Shelly Manne (ds) Album：""EMarcy 1955

"Maiden Voyage" Maynard Ferguson Octet from "Maynard Ferguson Octet" Maynard Ferguson (tp, b-tp, v-tb), Conte Candoli (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Herb Geller (as), Georgie Auld (ts), Bob Gordon (bs), Ian Bernard (p), Red Callender (b), Shelly Manne (ds) 1955 on EMarcy

"Rhythm Changes" Maynard Ferguson  On Baritone Horn - Valve Trombone, and Trumpet; from "Timex TV Show" Maynard Ferguson - 1959 -

"I Feel a Song Comin' On" Chris Connor & Maynard Ferguson from "Two's Company" 1961) on Roulette

"Blues For Kapp"-Maynard Ferguson (tp, tb, Fr h), Chet Ferretti, Rolf Ericson, Bill Berry (tp), Ray Winslow, Kenny Rupp (tb), Lanny Morgan (as, fl), Joe Farrell (ts, ss, fl), Willie Maiden (ts, fl), Frank Hittner (bari, b cl), Jaki Byard (p, celeste), Charlie Sanders (b), Rufus Jones (d) form Maynard '61 on Roulette

"Let's Face the Music and Dance," Maynard Ferguson and Chris Connor, from Two's Company" 1961) on Roulette

"Straight Out," Maynard Ferguson–trumpet, Gene Arnold Goe, Natale Pavone, Donald Arthur Rader – trumpet, John C. Gale, Kenneth Harold Rupp – trombone, Lanny Morgan – alto saxophone, Willie Maiden – tenor saxophone, clarinet, Donald J. Menza – tenor saxophone, Frank J. Hittner, Jr. – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, Michael Christian Joseph Abene – piano, Lincoln B. Milliman – bass, Rufus Jones – drums; from "Si Si MF"  1962 on Roulette

"Morgan Point," Maynard Ferguson–trumpet, Gene Arnold Goe, Natale Pavone, Donald Arthur Rader – trumpet, John C. Gale, Kenneth Harold Rupp – trombone, Lanny Morgan – alto saxophone, Willie Maiden – tenor saxophone, clarinet, Donald J. Menza – tenor saxophone, Frank J. Hittner, Jr. – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, Michael Christian Joseph Abene – piano, Lincoln B. Milliman – bass, Rufus Jones – drums; from "Si Si MF"  1962 on Roulette

10 Ballads to Slow Down Summer

I'm still cold from last winter, so the idea of rounding the corner into autumn is not thrilling. I invite you to luxuriate in these beautiful ballads. Let them keep the thought of neck-high snow at bay while they temper the burn of August heat.

Clifford Brown-I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance


Lawrence Brown, Ben Webster-All Too Soon

Jazz for the All-Saints Jim-Jams

Art Tatum, Lonesome Graveyard

ODJB, Skeleton Jangle

Clifford Brown, I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance

L,H&R, Halloween

Mickey Mouse, The Haunted House

See next page for Albert Ayler, Hot 8 BRass Band, Wynton Marsalis, Bessie Smith and Lee Morgan.

The Truth About Mouthpieces (updated)

I recently posted about Booker Little and trumpet player/blogger Ian Carey commented: "interesting that he got that fat "1C" sound out of a tiny Al Cass 1-28!"

That's one facet of the mouthpiece mythology that I didn't get into in this original post: People believe they should strive to get to a bigger mouthpiece (1c-3c) so they can get to a "bigger sound." The truth is, it absolutely depends on the player. Enough great players with "fat" sounds have put the lie to it to make any young (or older) trumpet player think twice:

Clifford Brown's sound has always been renowned for its juiciness. What mouthpiece did he use? Bach 17C1 and 17C2, equivalent now to Bach 10 3/4 CW. Small.  Ditto Conte Condoli. Ditto Fats Navarro. You think of Red Allen's sound as small? Don't think so. He used a very small cup Zottola. Dizzy Gillespie: Al Cass 2-24 & 2-25-equivalent to a Bach 11.75. The list is long.

The neglect that I experienced around mouthpiece choice and which I believe continues in early brass education is sickening. Young players: You need to know how important mouthpieces are. I truly believe that players just starting out are given mouthpieces that are several sizes too big and trying to use a mouthpiece that's too big can really mess you up.

You can play almost any trumpet, unless it's a real piece of junk, but having the wrong mouthpiece can absolutely stunt your musical growth. When you pick up this beast of an axe, you need positive reinforcement to stick with it. The wrong mouthpiece can make it so much more difficult to play that it can erode morale and no doubt has led many to ditch the horn. On the other hand, finding the right size mouthpiece can be incredibly motivating and speed you on your way to great range and flexibility.

1950's Trumpets, Pt. 2: Booker Little

Don Fagerquist was the first focus of our attention in this series about lesser-known brilliant trumpet players of the 1950's. If Fagerquist's playing was pretty much down-the-middle, Booker Little set up musical camp farther out on the edge. Fagerquist was anchored in jazz developments of the 40's and early 50's, while Booker looked ahead to the 60's.

Booker Little was born in 1938 in Memphis, a city where Phineas Newborn, Jr. was elder to a number of future jazz artists, such as Frank Strozier, trumpeter Louis Smith (Booker's cousin) and George Coleman, who got Booker moving seriously toward jazz. 

In 1954, after high school, Booker moved to Chicago and got a Bachelors degree in music at the Chicago Conservatory. For nine months of his stay, he roomed with Sonny Rollins, who was in Chicago preparing to join the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. Sonny introduced Booker to Max Roach, with whom Booker made his first recording and eventually gigged. The musicians in Roach's circle and those he knew from early Memphis days became many of the people he ran with during the short span of his career. His first recording was in June, 1956 and he died on October 5, 1961 of uraemic poisoning/kidney failure at the age of 23.

Booker articulated his views on music in a valuable Metronome magazine article by Robert Levin, an article used as the basis of this piece by Dan Miller. One way to introduce Booker's music is to quote his own words from that interview:

"Most of the guys who are thinking completely conventionally--they'd say 'Well maybe you've got a wrong note in there.' But I can't think in terms of wrong notes--in fact, I don't hear any notes as being wrong. It's a matter of knowing how to integrate the notes and, if you must, how to resolve them. Because if you insist that this note or that note is wrong I think you're thinking conventionally-technically, and forgetting about emotion. 

The 1950's: a Brilliant Decade for Trumpeters

Don Fagerquist

Blue Mitchell

I started off with the idea of looking at a few of the less well-known trumpet players who came of age in the 1950s. As I looked more closely at who reached maturity and was at or near the top of their game in that quiet Eisenhauer decade, I couldn't believe the wealth of players. There were the famous: Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry, Blue Mitchell, Joe Newman, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Art Farmer, Maynard Ferguson, Chet Baker, Donald Byrd, Doc Severinson(you could arguably put Miles here too). 

Idrees Sulieman

Jack Sheldon

Then, there were the somewhat less well-known: Nat Adderly, Idrees Sulieman, Bill Hardman, Thad Jones, Carmell Jones, Booker Little, Dizzy Reece, the Condoli Brothers and Johnny Coles. Then, there are those whose names are pretty much restricted to the cognoscenti: Richard Williams, Don Fagerquist, Shorty Rogers, Cy Touff, Ernie Royal, Dupree Bolton,  Tony Fruscella, Jon Eardley, Don Ellis, Jack Sheldon, Herb Pomeroy. I'm sure readers can, and probably will, name some I forgot. 

Dupree Bolton

Herb Pomeroy

The playing of many of these guys does not fall easily into one category. They had mastered the bop idiom, but most were not strictly boppers. Some were cool, some partially so; some hot; some came from the West Coast, but didn't play "West Coast," some came from somewhere else but did; some chose the cutting edge, others went down the middle.

I'll hoist a glass to some of the players from this stellar decade in upcoming posts. Today, I'll feature one from the cognoscenti pile: Don Fagerquist. 

The Clifford Brown Phenomenon

Marking the births or deaths of artists usually happens in "big" years-the 10th, 25th, etc. It's different with Clifford Brown, whose passing is marked even in the "small" years, as in this, the 82nd anniversary of his birth.

Clifford was indisputably one of our greatest trumpet players, but it's not his playing that explains the hold he has on our psyche, especially compared to the emotional connection we feel to other greats from the late 40's to late 60's era, like Fats Navarro, Sonny Berman, Kenny Dorham, Blue Mitchell, Lee Morgan, Booker Little. 



We have plucked Clifford out of this group because we want to celebrate the fact that in Clifford, musical genius managed to coexist with an open, humble and yes, sweet personality.

In a recent post, I said that Clifford didn't have "it," as defined by a player's reputation outweighing his musical contribution. But observing the Clifford phenomenon, it becomes clear that he sits in a singular category of "it-ness;" one not rooted in flashy personal style or the charisma of the bad boy. He was the rare soul in jazz who could play it straight and still be the best; who wouldn't let the harsh road and escapes from same (drugs, booze, promiscuity, overbearing ego) run roughshod over his innate gentleness.

The fact that this seems to be a rare personality constellation in the most elite realms of music-and art in general-is vaguely disconcerting, summoning up as it does all those hoary adages about the tortured genius. We'll not soon escape that labyrinth of romanticism (one corner of which is "it-itude"), so for the moment let's just celebrate a joyous spring of relief from such burdens:

Lee Morgan; Thoughts, Audio & Transcriptions

Prodigy, post-Parker junkie, dead by homicide at a young age (1938-1972). Whatever. The myth shouldn't crowd out the player. Musically, Lee Morgan was a muthahfucka.

No matter what influences he brought into his music-funk, modal, latin, free-Lee always sounded like Lee and the quality of his playing was always superb (apart from a period of chops trouble resulting from a drug-related tooth debacle).

The mid-50's Philadelphia that Morgan grew up in was an active and supportive jazz scene. He started the trumpet at 13 and by 14, he was playing at sessions, first at the Jazz Workshop at the Heritage House and then at Music City. He crossed paths with Clifford Brown, with whom he hung out for about 2 years, until Clifford's death on the road. He gigged around town with fellow teens bassist Spanky DeBrest and McCoy Tyner. Jess McMillan's authoritative article on Lee's days in Philly says that when Chet Baker came to town, the 15 year-old Morgan cut him-"blew him completely out of the room."

Dizzy Gillespie also made the Music City Club sessions and when he heard Lee, who was at that point 18, he recruited him for his big band.

Jazz and the Healthy Neurotic: How Can it Be Any Good if it Ain't That Hard?-by Steve Provizer

Hey! You with the dirty mind: I'm not talking about sex. I'm talking self-torture here-masochism, not sadism. In this jazz life, we are plagued by a foundational neurosis-to be revealed below-but let's start off with the happy thought that we have found-albeit unconsciously-healthy ways to try and de-fuse or re-articulate this neurosis. Here's what we say to ourselves: "No one gives a shit about this music. This society sucks." Then, if we do get a few people to care, the whole thing shifts a bit and we think: "I should be making a living out of this. No one really understands my genius, the sweat I've given. This society really sucks." But, swearing under the breath and bemoaning the rock-headedness of your fellow sapiens is good. It's solid sublimation; a healthy way to deal with what's underneath it all, the crux, the root neurosis: "Why can't I play like Clifford (Brown)? Why should I have to play like Clifford? I don't have to play like him. I can play like myself. Self-expression-yea, that's where it's at....Why can't I play like Clifford? Why should I have to play like Clifford? I don't have to play like him. I can play like myself. Self-expression-yea, that's where it's at...." Unending, unto eternity-the masochistic need to spend your days, your years, in pursuit of the chimera of creative resolution when there will never be a resolution. My observation is that-in or out of music-most jazz musicians aren't happy doing anything they can easily do. Ours is a personality type that must be wrestling with something just beyond our grasp. Any job we can do without a struggle is a job not worth bothering with. Any club that will let us join ain't worth the time. We work for years to make the high G and as soon as we get it, we gotta have a high Bflat. It's good that our partners force us to do things we can actually do-like hanging curtains, or figuring out on the bank checks which is the account number and which is the, you know, the other number. Of course these paltry victories inflate our egos to abominable dimensions, to the point that the distaff side tells us to just go away and get back to our damn practicing. The usual self-medications-scotch, pills, dope-have unpredictable side-effects. But fear not, friends and fellow sufferers. Even as you read this, Brilliant Corners jazz neurologists are sequestered in our gleaming lab, synthesizing a fool-proof 12-step plan, guaranteed to turn that bed of nails into a bed of roses---and 100,000 $.99 downloads of your latest masterpiece.