Michael Fitzgerald

Another item on SESAC is the 1960 Billy Taylor Trio (with Henry Grimes and Ray Mosca) "Custom Taylored" which later came out on Riverside under the title "Warming Up" (and on Fresh Sound under the original title). Details in the Henry Grimes discography on my website. For some reason BT used his wife's name as composer. Not sure why pseudonyms were used for transcription dates (because on this, the *player* is listed as Billy Taylor - it's just the *composer* who is "Teddi Taylor"). In the jazz world, Chico Hamilton did a record for SESAC with Dolphy. As did Barbara Carroll, Warren Covington, Don Elliott, Hank Garland, Terry Gibbs, Bobby Hackett, Elliott Lawrence, Marian McPartland, Sy Oliver, Don Redman, Bill Russo, Eddie Safranski, Charlie Shavers, and others. Some but not all of these have come out, usually on bootleg labels. But the original issues are indeed collectors items for the reasons described earlier. Recently Billy Taylor talked about these and said it was nice because to make money you could do gigs, do record dates, AND do radio transcription dates. Some info on transcriptions here: http://otrsite.com/articles/artwb006.html Mike

Yes, entirely different music. The Ayler photos were on display in Paris? I'm very interested as I'd love to include such photos in my Henry Grimes book. Mike

A propos the original post, I spent two days last week listening to material from the 821 Sixth Avenue loft (seems that W. Eugene Smith should get more credit than David X. Young, from what I've been told, but others like Hall Overton and Jimmy Stevenson merit mentions as well). There's a ton of great stuff that could, and hopefully will, see issue - and that's just based on what I was able to hear in those listening sessions. I guess it will come down to negotiating with the artists or estates. This kind of recording opens up a window on the life of the musician beyond the stage or the recording studio: rehearsals, jam sessions, conversations, just fooling around. Also shows that there were quality players who were never (well, hardly ever) noted elsewhere. Mike

As others have said, it's difficult (and probably useless) to make such generalizations. Plenty of people listen to a wide stylistic range of music and are not discriminating - same for people who listen to a narrow range. There are even those who may think that being "discriminating" is a bad thing in and of itself. However, refining one's tastes through knowledge and experience is not in opposition to having catholic tastes. Other people are flatly opposed to any kind of analysis - "I like it." "But why? What about it do you like?" "I just like it." Whatever - can't argue with that (lack of) logic - can't even discuss. If the "all music is equally good" philosophy floats your boat - great. It certainly doesn't for me. I know what I like and I know why I like it (and what I don't like and why I don't like it). There's not enough time in the day for all the stuff I do like so for the most part, spending time on what I don't like seems rather pointless. Is it possible to be passionate/fanatical/focused/discriminating on many things? Yes, I would say so. Maybe this is simply in accordance with the original "doubtful" or "almost inevitable" qualifiers. Does depth come with breadth? No. Does breadth come with depth? No. If you want depth, you put the work in. If you want depth in several things, you put the work in for each of them. Neither does depth come with lack of breadth, which is what MacDonald is saying. I know lots of people who don't listen to a wide range of music and still know nothing about their "specialty." BTW, I'm intrigued by a word new to me - "deskilling" - and if it means what I think it does (removing skill) then I think I very much agree with Mr. MacDonald on that point. Mike

Yes, the site mentioned does link to the most current version of the discography. If there are ever any doubts, check what is on my homepage. Mike

Unfortunately, the name of the compiler of the Woody Shaw discography is misspelled on the listed site. It is Todd Poynor. I've hosted his excellent work on my site since it began. Mike

Just because it's not "vocalese" doesn't mean it's not artistic. Absolutely, having the possibility of extending the lyrics through a full-length performance (head & solos) presents a great opportunity, much more than just one or just the other. Mike

I don't even play a lawyer on TV, but..... I've been told by a friend in music publishing that (say) Hendricks couldn't publish or record tunes with his own lyrics unless he got the permission of the (instrumental) tune's publisher. I don't think he can just rename the tune and become a co-writer. I think the original publisher has to approve that too. As I said, I believe that's done to try to make a distinction for royalty purposes. It's my understanding that Hendricks has a TON of lyrics that can't be used. Most of them are probably great. Mike

What I meant is that in the listings of tunes, that site differentiates between listing things as "vocalese" and as "straight lyrics." For example, see the notes on "The Swingers" and the LHR Ellington album. I'm not denigrating the role of the original melody (the head) in a vocalese performance. Absolutely it can play a part in setting things up. When Hendricks writes something like "Sing Joy Spring" and moves from the Fountain of Youth to Shakespeare and elsewhere, it's a beautiful thing. But to me, there's a big difference between the original LHR recording of "Airegin" which is just the head, talking about Nigeria before instrumental and scat solos, and the later MT recording which takes those solos and does the vocalese thing to them, weaving a story of African history from the days of the dinosaurs to the present. The LHR "Airegin" is not vocalese - it's just writing lyrics to a melody. People have been doing that for centuries - I can't call the vocal version of "Satin Doll" vocalese. The MT "Airegin" is vocalese - one of the finest examples of it. I'm not saying that the LHR "Airegin" is worse, it's just different. If a set of lyrics *just* covers the head, it's not vocalese by any definition I have learned (I agree with what is on that site). If a set of lyrics covers the head and an improvised solo, then it is (the part of the lyrics which correspond with the solo). The two could well be very well-integrated, but it's like the difference between the head and the solos of an instrumental performance. BTW, when discussing this stuff, Hendricks himself makes the distinction - he calls writing lyrics to the head of a jazz tune "lyricizing" it and reserves the "vocalese" term for the writing and performing of lyrics to improvised jazz solos. Head-solos-head goes to Lyricized head-vocalese solos-lyricized head. As for Night in Tunisia - I am away from my collection - can someone tell who is credited on the 1961 Ella Fitzgerald recording? The info I could get my hands on said Hendricks. I should have asked Hendricks about this when I spoke to him a few weeks ago. But he was off on a thousand tangential topics. I have a few older interviews of him at home. I'll try to confirm later. Mike

In terms of the different vocal vehicles, when considering the output of LHR(B), it's worth pointing out that they were really quite a versatile group and that they did much more than vocalese. Sometimes it was just lyrics to instrumentals ("Cookin' at the Continental" or the original "Airegin") with or without improvised scat solos. Sometimes it was "normal" (meaning official) lyrics (isn't "Summertime" just the regular Gershwin/Heyward words but done in the style of the Miles & Gil version?). Sometimes it was full vocalese with arrangements and LH & R playing the roles of specific instrumentalists (the Basie stuff). Sometimes it was harmonized ballads ("With Malice Toward None"). Sometimes it was original music & lyrics ("Everybody's Boppin'"). Sometimes it was novelties/oddities like "Halloween Spooks," "Poppity-Pop," or "The New ABC." This site (though incomplete) has some good information including distinction between vocalese and "straight lyrics." http://www.ralf.org/~colomon/vocalese/lhr.html Quite a few jazz pieces that are known as instrumentals have lyrics. The more financially astute composers realized that this would give them a chance to earn royalties from vocal performances. Many times this was just wishful thinking, but worth a shot to: Gigi Gryce, Randy Weston, Duke Pearson, and Benny Golson, to name four, but I'm sure many more did this. Sometimes the composers themselves wrote the lyrics, sometimes it was handed over to a lyricist, frequently Hendricks. It seems the "normal" lyrics to "A Night in Tunisia" are by Hendricks, now that I check things out. I think he wrote that much earlier (c. 1961) than when he did the vocalese lyrics for the Bird solo. There were earlier lyrics (c. 1945) to the Tunisa melody under the title "Interlude." Not sure who did those - possibly Frank Paparelli, though the story was that he got his name on the tune because he did some copy work. Later I guess Mignone wrote what Eddie Jefferson uses, and there are much later lyrics, I think credited to Arif Mardin & Chaka Khan under the title "The Melody Still Lingers On." The "Round Midnight" situation is very interesting. The "normal" lyrics that most singers use (It begins to tell...) are by Bernie Hanighen. They are the official ones according to the publisher. There are alternate sets by Babs Gonzalez (recorded by him and by Betty Carter, at least) and two sets by Hendricks (one recorded by Carmen McRae and by Robert Wyatt, and the other a variant of the first - the Miles & Coltrane set - never recorded as far as I know). If you want to see 3 of the 4 sets, do a search on groups.google.com for [Midnight lyrics Hendricks]. In terms of getting to be the "normal" version, it seems it is getting tougher. In 1961 Monk gave the OK to Abbey Lincoln to do what is now known as "Monkery's the Blues" but was originally just called "Blue Monk." I don't know at what point anything changed to demand the new title. But if you are the "official" lyricist it could be you get money even when the recording has no vocals. And the "music" composers don't want that to happen. I remember some Concord CDs had a note that "instrumental versions included on this album do not include performances of contributions by the following lyricists" or something like that. Mike

That's a reasonable distinction, but there are probably cases where only the solos are given lyrics - meaning the "normal" lyrics are used for the melody. Is this the case with the MT version of "Night in Tunisia" with Hendricks and McFerrin? I can't really recall. But in most cases, vocalese performances take a *specific* recording as a model, so even when Hendricks does Miles & Coltrane doing "Round Midnight" he doesn't use his own lyrics for the regular Monk tune, he alters them to fit exactly how Miles paraphrases it. As for the tempos, I enjoy playing some great vocalese when students say that bebop solos aren't "lyrical." Mike

The legal status is such that the publisher must approve any lyrics added to the original composition. I've been told there can only be ONE approved set of lyrics for a tune. However, the official set can CHANGE - this happened with Body and Soul, for example. So the reason why the new lyrics to "Take Five" cannot be approved is that the estate doesn't want to make them the new approved version. Same situation with many of the wonderful lyrics by Jon Hendricks. There were big problems after he wrote lyrics to "Li'l Darlin'" - I think it was Neal Hefti himself who had written a set and he wasn't about to change. This is also why tunes with lyrics added sometimes get different titles - "Sing Joy Spring" instead of "Joy Spring," for example. There are quite a few sets of alternate lyrics out there. About four or five for "Round Midnight." Also, I have heard about some great new lyrics that Red Mitchell wrote - can't recall the standard right now. And strictly speaking, vocalese is the setting of lyrics to the *solos* not the melodies. What Hendricks does is nothing short of amazing - telling coherent, interesting stories and fitting it to complicated (originally) improvised lines. Check out how he wrote lyrics to *his own* scat solo on "Airegin" (from the aforementioned The Swingers album) on the Manhattan Transfer album Vocalese. Mike

Larry Ridley is definitely not pictured, nor does he play trumpet. Although I have never met the man, I suspect that it is Larry's trumpet-playing brother Mike Ridley. Mike

The entire BAND was Russell's students. Dave Young's name came up the other day when I was talking with David Baker and Larry Ridley about the Lenox School of Jazz. DY was there in 1960 (as were all the rest of the Russell sextet - Baker, Al Kiger, Joe Hunt, Chuck Israels - Don Ellis, who later replaced Kiger, was there too). Young later worked with Mongo Santamaria, Mercer Ellington, Jack McDuff. Pretty sure he is still in Indiana. He still plays there and recorded with Jack Gilfoy and Jimmy Coe. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation Hall of Fame in 2001. I suspect we could get more info from our favorite Bloomington radio personality. Mike

Vincent Nilsson is a heck of a writer, too. He has an arrangement of "Lament" by JJ Johnson on the new Renee Rosnes/DRBB album. Mike

Yes! Steve Kuhn is fabulous. Just a few days ago I spent an evening with him talking about the Lenox School of Jazz. He was already working as a teenager. Like so many great players, he studied with Margaret Chaloff in Boston (while attending Harvard). After Lenox 1959 (where he played with Ornette, Don Cherry, et al.) he was hired by Kenny Dorham and they did his first issued recording. Pretty soon after that he became the first pianist in John Coltrane's quartet, before McCoy Tyner. Then he was working with Stan Getz in 1961. He was on, I think, the last gigs that Scott LaFaro did (Newport 7/2/61). Scott had taken a week off when he was killed (7/6/61). At that time, Henry Grimes was the bassist subbing with the Getz quartet. In terms of his 1960s period, I think Kuhn fits in there with folks like Bill Evans, Don Friedman, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock (Herbie was originally to be the other pianist with Kuhn on the "Country & Western" album - it ended up being Toshiko Akiyoshi). Played with Art Farmer in the mid 1960s - great stuff (Sing Me Softly Of The Blues) and then Basra by Pete LaRoca. In 1967 he moved to Europe for 4 years. Upon his return he did some things on Cobblestone and ECM, which are good, too. A little different, but good. He's written some nice pieces too. I know in the 1980s he returned more to standards - I heard him a few times at the Knickerbocker in NYC with Ron Carter. One time standing directly behind him, looking (and learning) over his shoulder for the whole set. Offhand, I can't think of a bad SK album, so you should be pretty safe exploring his catalog. Mike

And while we're at it, make sure to include the broadcast recordings of Buddy with Blakey - or Buddy with Don Friedman from 1957. There's probably more, but those are some I'd love to hear. Mike

Here is a quick & dirty listing - missing 1514. Were there any in this series past 1516? Subsequently Charles had some deal with ABC - LPs listed as on the Tangerine label but with ABC numbers. Scott, Jimmy - Jimmy Scott - Tangerine 1501 Prude, Terrell - Princess - Tangerine 1502 Jordan, Louis - Hallelujah - Tangerine 1503 Grey, Al - Shades Of Grey - Tangerine 1504 Mayfield, Percy - My Jug And I - Tangerine 1505 Anderson, John - Time Will Tell - Tangerine 1506 Graham, Rita - Vibrations - Tangerine 1507 Bishop, John - Bishop's Whirl - Tangerine 1508 Davis, Wild Bill - Wonderful World - Tangerine 1509 Mayfield, Percy - Bought Blues - Tangerine 1510 Raelets - Souled Out - Tangerine 1511 Charles, Ray - My Kind Of Jazz - Tangerine 1512 Bishop, John - Plays His Guitar - Tangerine 1513 Raelets - Yesterday…Today…Tomorrow - Tangerine 1515 Charles, Ray - My Kind Of Jazz 2 - Tangerine 1516 Mike

Re: Shelly's Manne-Hole gig - I do think some appearances are being confused here. Forgetting about who may or may not have been onstage, if I understand correctly, there were only 3 passengers in the car: Lee, Blakey, Merritt (we think). I'd be interested to talk further to determine if there are any personal circumstances or recollections that would determine date, season, etc. (Though in Los Angeles it's not very likely that you'd remember that it was winter because the guys had heavy coats and therefore had a hard time fitting into the car.) Unfortunately, knowing the club doesn't help since the Manne-Hole opened in late 1960 and continued at that location until 1972. Mike

When this becomes available, if someone could send me the specific details, I would greatly appreciate it. Apparently *two* of my piano folks are on it - Kenny Barron *and* Renee Rosnes. Also, I'd like to know which movement of the Theme for Monterey suite is included. Also, trumpeter Sean Jones appears on this - he's the new one to watch, I've been told. Mike

I don't believe anyone has mentioned this, but I just received the Jazz Guitarist set yesterday and at the end of disc 2, track 10 is hidden material - one minute of silence then French airplane announcements, then a nice guitar quartet piece. This doesn't seem to be an alternative take - in fact, there aren't any quartet sessions in the set. Don't know what tune it is - more thorough investigation will be needed. Anyone have further info? I don't *think* there's anything of significance to translate. Mike

Is this cartoon different from the one included in Phantom Navigator? "Other Worlds" from August 1949, last frame includes "Those are only the babies, wait until you see the big ones." Mike

Oh, come on, that's not fair. The Bird & Diz is from the prime period. A fairer comparison would be the recent 2-CD deluxe reissue of "Who's Next" with an entire disc devoted to the Young Vic Theatre concert from April 26, 1971. Also, more studio material than had previously been available is included from the March 1971 NYC sessions (with guests Leslie West and Al Kooper). Mike

Are the tunes known by other names? The titles shown sound more like a Sun Ra album. "Spiral Galaxy" and "Sketch" are both tunes on Other Planes of There. "Journey to the Stars" is on My Brother, The Wind v.2. "Abstract Eye" is on The Magic City. Sun Ra billed his band as "the Astro Infinity Arkestra" on occasions. Mike

I believe so.