Booker Little "Out Front" (Recorded April 4, 1961)

 

The cohort of 1950s trumpet players is a pretty astonishing lot. Booker Little, one of that (often ill-fated) group, died of uremic poisoning at 23 and only recorded between 1959 and 1961. The album Out Front (released in 1961, now being reissued by Candid), is arguably the best recorded representation of his unique voice as trumpeter and composer-arranger. The lineup: Booker Little, trumpet; Eric Dolphy, alto sax; Julian Priester, trombone; Art Davis and Ron Carter, bass; Don Friedman, piano; and Max Roach, drums. All compositions are by Little.

From Memphis and schooled at the Chicago Conservatory, Little was a master technician on the trumpet. His unique tone managed to be both pleading and stentorian, copper and silver, focused but not excessively narrow. His varied use of vibrato, and of the extreme registers of the horn, together with his compositions, were the tools he used to investigate crucial, foundational aspects of jazz.

Although less bluesy/funky, there’s something of Charles Mingus in Little’s compositions, particularly in the stops and starts, along with the variations in tempo. I also hear similarities to the voicings used by Wayne Shorter in his arrangements, such as, for example, in Freddie Hubbard’s 1963 album Body and Soul. (Why so many Shorter tunes have become standards while Little’s are seldom played may be a result of the often through-composed structure of his compositions and, of course, the brevity of Little’s career).

Little was looking for a certain kind of freedom, but it was not the freedom of Ornette or of Dolphy, though they sound very natural playing side by side. Little’s idea of liberty called for more strictures. “Moods in Free Time” is a good reflection of this. The time here is not “free” in the customary sense. It derives its flexibility from a subtly crafted shifting of time signatures — from 3/4 to 4/4 to 5/4 to 6/4 meter.

The songs “Man of Words “and “Hazy Hues” are actually “program music” — a format seldom approached in jazz. The first is Little’s attempt to describe the journey of a writer confronting a blank piece of paper. Ideas are tested until a pattern emerges; at that point the real work has been accomplished. The second tune, almost a concerto for trumpet, limns a painter at work, starting with the germ of an idea and bringing it to completion.

Despite Little’s technical proficiency and knowledge of harmony, he considered technique less important than communication. Little said, “If you insist that this note or that note is wrong … you’re thinking conventionally–technically, and forgetting about emotion.…There are certain feelings that you might want to express that you could probably express better if you didn’t have that [bounding, continuous] beat. Up until now if you wanted to express a sad or moody feeling you would play the blues. But it can be done in other ways.”

Little’s oeuvre is distinctive and deserves wider attention. This reissue is an excellent place to begin to explore his very brief career. Don’t be surprised if you listen and two thoughts arise: “Why didn’t I know this music?” and ”What if…”

Intonation: Good Enough For Jazz?

There's an ancient trope musicians share while they're tuning up. After a few minutes of slides and mouthpieces being manipulated to try and agree on a Bflat, someone says "Ok-good enough for jazz."

How much a listener is distracted by intonation in jazz is personal, but it's clear that in the hierarchy of jazz values, personal expression trumps intonation. In fact, a lot of great players have existed in a kind of a tuning nether-region. I don't mean "bending" notes, which is an obvious device. But, is the musician purposely playing out of tune, doesn't notice it, or is he or she hearing the music in another way; possibly more as in a non-tempered, just-intonation framework?

This varies from instrument to instrument.

Bass players will be pissed off, but I find their intonation often dubious. Walking-ok, but once the solos start and they're freed from the shackles of playing important chord tones, it's a different story. Can't really talk about pianists, of course, as they do what they can with what they're given. As far as trumpet players- look at pictures of classical trumpet players and you see they have

 
fingers in both the first and third valve slides, in order to make adjustments. Not so, jazz players, who are often out of tune, especially when they use mutes. I hear trombonists adjusting well, especially in the upper register, when the slide is least extended. Mutes are an issue for them, too.

Really, it's about sax players-and mostly about alto players.

There's a school of alto players to which applying the usual standards of playing sharp or flat just doesn't make sense.

Here's where some of them fall to me:

Cannonball Adderly: bright tone, pleasantly sharp.
Gary Bartz: pretty much in the center
Benny Carter: liked to push it up and down, but settled at home
Johnny Hodges: all over the place, but he knew where he was
Ornette Coleman: an intonation enigma; where will he be?
Lou Donaldson: moderately bright tone, but, surprisingly, sometimes a shade under pitch(!)
Eric Dolphy: often far away from "in tune" on the sharp end.
Charlie Parker: His tone changed (almost) everyone's tone to the edgier bright sound that has dominated since that time. I think that people must have heard him as playing sharp, which a lot of the time he was, but less sharp than his tone would lead you to think.
Jackie McLean: He's the guy that inspired this post; pushes sharp to the extreme.

Where do you stand on this question?

Trumpet Miming in Film: Mostly Jive

No surprise that filmmakers want to feature trumpet players in their films. After all, we are a complicated, sometimes volatile and, ahem, sexy cohort. I've written here about the odd character-illogical bent that movies show toward the species, but in this post, I'll restrict myself to analyzing how well filmmakers pull off the act of shooting a character playing the trumpet or cornet.

Let me note that, technically, no one is actually playing for the soundtrack while scenes are being shot. Music is almost never recorded live on a soundstage, but is recorded in an audio studio and mimed during the shoot (I did this myself as a member of a polka band in the as-yet unreleased Jack Black film The Polka King). That's the only way to be able to isolate any dialogue in the scene and it gives many more editing options. So, even if someone knows how to play, in a feature film, they always have to try and synch with pre-existing audio.

Let's start with the one scene I know of featuring a woman. In The Jerk, Bernadette Peters does an excellent miming job. Before she plays, she lightly licks her lip in a very natural way. Then, she actually fingers the right notes on the valves for a melody in the trumpet key of Aflat. Her embouchure is a little too loosy-goosy and the dubbing is very close, but not exact. She looks like an example of someone who is comfortable with the trumpet and maybe even knows how to play, but is not playing it here.

Jack Lord of Hawaii 5-O fame is in Play It Glissando, an episode of Route 66. Just from the awkwardness of the title (you can play _a_ glissando, but you can't play _it_ glissando), you can see the writers are trying to get hip but can't quite get there. I find that a lot in Route 66, but I love them for trying. Lord is cast in the Chet Baker mold and has the basic look right, but, as in most miming attempts, he's trying too hard to look the tortured soul. He's too stressed, too tense. Also, there's no variation in his chops; no indication that he's actually playing high or low, loud or soft. The director is smart enough to have only one shot where you can see him fiddling with the valves and that's a quick long shot.


Whether or not Richard Gere in-Cotton Club plays the cornet himself is a subject of online debate. The most convincing story I read says he did; not live, of course, but that with Warren Vache's help, he pre-recorded his parts. The scene where Gere's character really plays is not online, but in this clip he does a good job; right stance, overall physical look, amount of tension, fingering the valves properly. Flirting with Diane Lane does break his concentration. I get that.


Denzel Washington in Mo Better Blues does a very credible job. It helps that he is photographed in dim light-makes it hard to see his chops. They put him in the classic Miles pose-hunched over, with little movement. Spike is smart enough to give him a simple riff to play in close up and to pull back in the brief time the solo gets more complicated. Also, they know when the horn should have a harmon mute-and when it's open, for the solo.


Jack Klugman in a Twilight Zone episode called A Passage for Trumpet was not well coached. Here I speak not of his playing (although that too) but what he does when he goes to pawn his trumpet. Watch at :48.


Did you see what he did? First, he slammed his mouthpiece into the receiver-a sure way to get the thing stuck. Then, he actually, put the whole mouthpiece in his mouth. Never happens.

Ok, nuff o that.

I had reservations about other aspects of Miles Ahead, but no question that Don Cheadle was serious about learning how to play and to do a good job synching to the soundtrack. Sorry I don't have a longer clip, but this clip should show how invested he was in getting it right. Keyon Harrold does the real playing.


Jack Just-the-facts-maam Webb, a big jazz fan, made Pete Kelly's Blues. The thing that made Jack's miming work credible is his intrinsic wooden-ness, which actually keeps him from engaging in the St Vitus dance that so many actors are subject to in miming a trumpeter. His valve work is not bad.


In Clint Eastwood's film Bird, Michael Zelniker does a pretty good Red Rodney, at least in terms of fingering. He does not get the embouchure. Red had fairly Dizzy-like puffy cheeks.


Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker in Born to be Blue does some things right. His general physical deportment and playing posture is right, but his embouchure is wrong and he also raises his shoulders and gears up a little too much for a breath. Careful video study of Chet would have shown that. As is the norm, his fingering for ballads is good and breaks down somewhat at higher tempos. Kevin Turcotte does the actual playing.


Probably the progenitor of the self-destructive trumpet player was Kirk Douglas in Young Man With a Horn, a film I talk about here. Kirk's performance varies, depending on how fast the music is. There are no clips up of him when he plays jazz, but here, apart from the usual excess physical movement, he does a credible job with a ballad (trumpet actually played by Harry James):


In A Man Called Adam, Sammy Davis Jr. takes on the part of yet another messed up trumpeter. I was a little disappointed in Sammy's miming attempts here, as he was a consummate musician who, I believe, actually played some trumpet. This just means that, although his embouchure is convincing, he didn't take the time to know what cornettist Nat Adderly was actually putting down and there's a lot of random fingering going on. He does a great job of carrying out one of a trumpet player's great fantasies: smashing up his horn on stage.


Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity has quite a challenge: to make Manny Klein's trumpet playing look like it came from a bugle. Of course, a bugle has no valves, so even though impossible to do, it's much simpler to mime. We only see him play in profile, so rating his chops is hard, but he has the correct look of a trumpet player who's had too much to drink, but has enough energy left to show off for 16 bars before he passes out.


Red Nichols and His Five Pennies has Danny Kaye taking the title role. Much of the musical slack is taken up by Louis Armstrong and Danny does a lot of singing (unlike Red himself). He comes onstage about halfway through the clip. Before that, you get to hear Pops. When he is playing, Danny is in long shot, with appropriately masking lighting, so not much pressure for cornet verisimilitude. Adequate, I guess.


SHORT TAKES/ ODDITIES  This post would take an eternity to load if I embedded all these, so I just provide the links where you can find the clips.

Amazing. At 29:15, Sugar Ray Robinson ("Biff") gets a lecture on the use of mutes in the TV series Land of the Giants(!) Later, Sugar and the actor play a duet on Give Me The Simple Life. "I hate to call a man a liar, but that's not the first mute I've seen." At the end, the actor has to charm a snake with his trumpet, using a few well-chosen minor scales. Now yer talkin'. BTW, writer Richard Shapiro's first writing credit is a script for Route 66. https://youtu.be/4ihHl2HadQI
 
Forrest Whittaker, in the production Lush Life does have the length of the phrases down, so that he starts and stops playing phrases at the right time;  points for studiousness. But, he also suffers from the same unnecessary rocking/excess motion that he had when he played Bird in Eastwood's movie. Some playing after opening credits and at 8:00: https://youtu.be/GSYfFE_BOMo

Burt Young plays another self-destructive trumpet player in Uncle Joe Shannon. Instead of showing us the tension in his chops needed to hit all those Maynard Ferguson high notes, Burt is in constant motion. Between that and the director shooting into lights and constantly moving the camera, attention is pretty much successfully diverted from how little effort Burt put into knowing anything about the music.
https://youtu.be/A_7z7CZZQlE

Thanks to FB friend Marty Krystall for reminding me about this, He wrote: "I worked on camera in a few shots with Kurt Russell in Swing Shift, with Goldie Hawn. Kurt studied the trumpet with Zep Misner for two months, and I heard him warming up on the set. He had a very nice, controlled sound. He was a natural trumpet man. I don't know if some of his playing ended up in the film or just his side-lining, but he could play." https://youtu.be/gMU8I4uMFIY 

Bryant Weeks sits in for Bix in Bix: An Interpretation of a Legend (Tod Pletcher is playing). Full credit to Weeks for knowing the music well enough to make the fingering look good. It is weird that he brings his fingers up so high, as if each valve needed the pressure of a tuba valve to go down. The actors all do a good job and music director Bob Wilbur makes sure there are no anachronisms and missteps. https://youtu.be/dlggYkTZkzo

For Love or Country; The Arturo Sandoval Story features Andy Garcia as Sandoval, who, of course, is actually playing. Garcia does a very good job, although we might note that since Arturo's valves are almost in perpetual motion, it makes miming fast sections easier than in solos that are less moto perpetuo. https://youtu.be/3c06RIkstto

In Blues in the Night, Jack Carson does a credible job. Plus, there's a certain fascination in watching an entire group of actors pretend to play jazz. https://youtu.be/BJG0ZimloMY

One of the most ridiculous efforts and certainly the most vertigo-inducing, Mickey Rourke in Passion Play: https://youtu.be/apwHygpBzus

In Memories of Me Billy Crystal plays trumpet and, albeit with too much head movement, does a credible job. https://youtu.be/eVvhSBO0NnE

Dingo, a little known film with Colin Friels as the trumpet player(Chuck Findlay playing). I give Friels an B- for his mime job, but worth noting is the fact that this is the only film I ever saw with POV shots of the valves; as if seen through the player's eyes-or nose. https://youtu.be/AG5gZjKaPyw

Nice little trumpet scene from The Black Glove with ok miming by Alex Nicol of nice playing by Kenny Baker (I think) https://youtu.be/jMbT7JABKW4

Playing two big band trumpet players, Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith vie for the affections of Goddard in Second Chorus.  Fred does kind of a ragged job with the fingering, while Burgess is a little more precise with fingering but apt to twist himself up into some odd contortions. Bobby Hackett and Billy Butterfield are the real players. https://youtu.be/upO7v6T7O5c

In The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai, Peter Weller, who apparently actually plays trumpet, pulls out a pocket trumpet during a nightclub scene. I'll give it a mention just because, well how often do you see a pocket trumpet in a feature film? https://youtu.be/AbBMzGUlIRw

The Salton Sea has Val Kilmer (Terrence Blanchard playing) and the little I've seen on Youtube is disappointing; no effort to synch his valve work with the music and a laughable embouchure. Goo-ily romanticized bilge. https://youtu.be/swYBhpwTLAo

Dennis Leary in The Secret Life of Dentists does a credible job. They keep him in medium-long shot with low lighting. That helps. https://youtu.be/Zirk0GaE9fU

Unfortunately, I could find find no clips of Robert Wagner playing trumpet in All the Fine Young Cannibals, no trace of Syncopation by William Dieterle, 1942, that has Jackie Cooper as a jazz trumpet player and could not find clips of Antonio Banderas playing in Mambo Kings. 

There are many more scenes that could be analyzed, especially in episodic television, but I have evaluated my own level of obsessiveness and feel that things have gone far enough; at least for the moment. I'd ask any readers who can cue us in to other examples to leave a comment here rather than responding on Facebook, although I'm happy if you do that as well.

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

Lee Morgan Ballads

Trumpeter Lee Morgan was a bravura player on up-tempo tunes, but also a master at medium-slow and ballad tempi. The DuPlex Mystery Jazz Hour of 12.8.16 on WZBC presented a small sample of this beautiful work.

LISTEN HERE

Lee Morgan "You Go To My Head" from "The Gigolo" 1966 Blue Note, Lee Morgan (tp), Wayne Shorter (ts), Harold Mabern, Jr (p), Bob Cranshaw (b), Billy Higgins (d)

Lee Morgan "All the Way" from "All the Way" 1958 Sunset-Lee Morgan (tp) Sonny Clark (p) Doug Watkins (b) Art Taylor (d)

Lee Morgan "I'll Never Be The Same" from "Sonic Boom" (Jazz, 1967) on Blue Note-Lee Morgan-t; David "Fathead" Newman, George Coleman (tenors); Julian Prester (tr); Cedar Walton, Harold Mabern (piano); Ron Carter, Walter Booker (bass); Billy Higgins, Mickey Roker (drums).

Lee Morgan "Flamingo" from "The Sermon!" (Jazz, 1958) on Blue Note-Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith (org), Kenny Burrell(g), Art Blakey(d)

Lee Morgan "I Remember Clifford" from "Lee Morgan" 1957) on Blue Note-Lee Morgan,Benny Golson-ten,Gigi Gryce-alto, flute, Wynton Kelly-p, Paul Chambers-bass Charlie Persip - drums

Lee Morgan "Ceora" from "Cornbread" (Jazz, 1965) on Blue Note-Herbie Hancock(p), Billy Higgins(d),  Jackie McLean(as), Hank Mobley(ts) and Larry Ridley-bass

Lee Morgan "I Remember Clifford", from "Lee Morgan Vol. 3," 1957-Lee Morgan,Benny Golson-ten, Gigi Gryce-alto, flute, Wynton Kelly-p, Paul Chambers-bass Charlie Persip - drums


Lee Morgan "I'm Old Fashioned" from "Blue Train" (Jazz, 1958) on Blue Note-John Coltrane(ts) Lee Morgan(tp) Curtis Fuller(tb) Kenny Drew(p) Paul Chambers(b) Philly Joe Jones(ds)

Lee Morgan, "Twilight Mist"-from "Tom Cat" Blue Note, 1964, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Jackie McLean, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw – bass, Art Blakey – drums

Carmell Jones Radio Show

Trumpeter Carmell Jones, featured on the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour, WZBC, with Steve Provizer 02/04/2016 05:00PM to 06:00PM

LISTEN HERE

Carmell Jones Quartet "If I Love Again" from "Carmell Jones Quartet" (1960), Fresh Sounds 

Carmell Jones Quartet "Willow Weep for Me" from "Carmell Jones Quartet" (1960), Fresh Sounds 

Bud Shank Quintet featuring Carmel Jones "New Groove" from "New Groove" (1961), Pacific Jazz 

Vi Redd "Now's The Time" from "Bird Call" (1962), United Artists 

Curtis Amy w. Carmell Jones "Groovin' Blue" from "Groovin' Blue" (1961), Pacific Jazz 

Harold Land Quintet "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" from "Jazz Impressions Of Folk Music" (1963), Imperial 

Horace Silver Quintet "Song for My Father" from "Song for my Father" (1964), Blue Note 

Carmell Jones Quintet "Just In Time" from "Jayhawk Talk" (1965), Prestige 

Nathan Davis w. Carmell Jones " Carmell´s Black Forest Waltz" from "The Hip Walk" (1965), SABA 

Mark Harvey On The Duplex

I had an interesting session with trumpeter, pianist, composer, arranger, minister, writer, educator Mark Harvey on the 1/28/16 Duplex Mystery Radio Hour on WZBC. Check out Mark's book and CD here. 

Listen to the show HERE

Woody Herman "Mo-Lasses" from "The Swinginest" (1963) on Phillips 

Charlie Parker "Cool Blues" from "Charlie Parker at Storyville" (1988) on Blue Note 

George Russell "War Gewesen" from "George Russell/7 Classic Albums" on Real Gone Jazz 

George Russell "War Gewesen" from "George Russell/So What" (1987) on Blue Note 

The Mark Harvey Group "Tarot: The Moon" from "The Boston Creative Jazz Scene 1970-1983" (2016) on Cultures of Soul 

Thing "Road Through the Wall Pts 2,3" from "The Boston Creative Jazz Scene 1970-1983" (2016) on Cultures of Soul 

Stanton Davis/Ghetto Mysticism "Play Sleep" from "The Boston Creative Jazz Scene 1970-1983" (2016) on Cultures of Soul 

Baird Hersey and the Year of the Ear "Herds and Hoards" from "Herds and Hoards" (2016) on Cultures of Soul 

Taking The Plunge

The Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour of 12/31/2015 featured some of the great plunger mute players in jazz.

LISTEN HERE

PLAYLIST

Johnny Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds "Hawaiian Blues" 1922 on Vocalion 

Johnny Dunn and His Band "What's the Use of Being Alone" 1928 on Vocalion 

King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopators "Wa Wa Wa" 1926 on Brunswick 

King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopators "Sugar Foot Stomp" 1926 on Brunswick 

Charles Johnson's Paradise Ten "The Boy in the Boat" 1928 on Victor 

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra "The Mooche" 1928 

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra "Black and Tan Fantasy" on Brunswick 1927

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra "Concerto for Cootie" on Victor 1940 

Hank Jones - Tyree Glenn Sextet "Lonely Moments" 195) 

Clark Terry, Quentin Jackson "Ol'zulu" from  Paris 1960 on Swing 

Al Grey "Nothing but the Truth" from "Snap Your Fingers"  1962 on ARGO 

Clark Terry & His Jolly Giants "Never" from "Clark Terry & His Jolly Giants" 1975) on Vanguard Records 

Rex and Cootie "I'm Beginning to See the Light" from "The Big Challenge" 1957) on Jazztone 

Duke Ellington "It Don't Mean A Thing" 1943 Film 

New Orleans Trumpets and the Lowly Hankie

I know what you're saying: finally, a post that combines jazz and handkerchiefs...

Truth is, the lowly handkerchief has a venerable presence in New Orleans jazz trumpet. Maybe it's the humidity. One of the first great New Orleans trumpeters, Freddie Keppard, played with a handkerchief covering his valves-at least when he thought other trumpet players were close enough to cop his fingerings, although Sidney Bechet disputes that. Freddie seems to have been paranoid enough about other players copping his licks that he apparently ceded the chance to make the first "jazz" recording to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

Tommy Ladnier, another user of the handkerchief. 

Trumpeters: Breathe Deeply and Prosper

Throughout my long playing career (if you can call it that), I have been fed any number of what now seem like crackpot breathing directives, including "Ya gotta push hard out your butt, like you're tryin to fart." "Draw in that sphincter muscle and make it real tight." "Support has to come from the diaphragm, don't worry about your chest."

I've finally begun to understand a couple of fundamental things: 1) Both your chest (lungs) and diaphragm have to be fully engaged and (2) It's not the volume of air that opens up the upper register, it's the velocity. Plenty of air has to be available and you have to be able to generate great airflow speed. Your mouth cavity and tongue also effect the rate of speed. 

We get very obsessed about our chops, but in fact our chops don't kick in until all the above happens. It takes a lot of strength to resist a small, concentrated, fast-moving column of air. The job of your face muscles is to allow your lips to either tighten or relax, to produce faster or slower vibrations that are then amplified by the trumpet and emerge as notes of different pitch. 
                    
Whatever system of playing works for you is probably the one that allows this system to operate with the greatest efficiency for your particular physiological and psychological makeup.

All this being said, I think it's useful to go back to a fundamental understanding of the act of breathing. I came across this groovy video that explains how things work. They should show this to anyone who picks up a wind instrument.




Here's another video, just to give our friend the diaphragm its due. Ten points to whoever tells me where that extra "g" came from:




So my friends, breathe deeply and prosper.

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!

Lookin' At The Roane Brothers

Inspired by a nice posting by Andrew Sammut on his blog, I took a look at trumpet players Kenneth and Eddie Roane on my 7-11-13 program. Check out the show for biographical info and music by these two excellent trumpet players.

Here's the program.

Fess Williams “Hot Town” (Victor 1927)
Lloyd Scott and His Orchestra “HARLEM SHUFFLE” (Victor 1927)
Lloyd Scott and His Orchestra “Happy Hour” (Victor 1927)
Lloyd Scott and His Orchestra “Symphonic Scronch” (Victor 1927)
Fess Williams “Friction” (1929)
Eddie Cole “Honey Hush” (Decca 1936)
Eddie Cole “Thunder” (Decca 1936)
Sidney Bechet “Meringue” (1939)
Sidney Bechet “Rose Rhumba” (1939)
Louis Jordan “Is You Is or Is Ain't My Baby?” SINGLE (Decca 1943)
Louis Jordan “I Like Em Fat Like That” SINGLE (Decca)
Louis Jordan “You Can't Do That No More” SINGLE (Decca 1943)
Fess Williams “Variety Stomp” SINGLE (Brunswick 1927)

The Kenny Dorham/Lee Morgan Show

A brief biographical and musical look at two of the great trumpeters in jazz.

K.D.

Lee

Here's the (one hour) show.

Kenny Dorham “The Prophet” from Kenny Dorham: The Jazz Prophets (Chessmates 1956)

Kenny Dorham “My Heart Stood Still” from 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia (Blue Note 1956)

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messingers “Night in Tunisia” from Live in Stockholm (1959)

Lee Morgan “Hocus Pocus” from Sidewinder (Blue Note 1963)

Kenny Dorham “Sunrise in Mexico” from Whisle Stop (Blue Note 1961)

Kenny Dorham “My Old Flame” from Jazz Contrasts (Riverside 1957)

Lee Morgan “I'll Never Be the Same” from Sonic Boom (Blue Note 1967)