mikeweil

There was a widespread traditional scene in Germany because this was a style older people could relate to from the time before the NAZI regime. The radio big bands covered the swing style. Newer styles like bop and cool were known only to connoisseurs and the audience of the few jazz concerts staged. One more problem was and is that the tradjazz scene has many amateur musicians, doctors and lawyers, and younger musicians being opposed to their lifestyle. Modern and free jazz developments here had a lot to do with avoiding anything associated with remainders of third reich culture. The Brötzmann interviews posted in his obituary thread will tell you some about this. Mangelsdorff made similar statements in interviews l have watched or read. Brötzmann made his first recordings in 1965 with free style bands. One would have to search for all the names in the Tom Lord Disco to find out about the others.

https://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/97228/various-artists/we-jazz-magazine-issue-8-shadow-shapes

The only Tormé CD I have is this compilation, received many years ago as a gift from a singer and vocal coach as a "thank you" for reviewing his jazz choir CD. The Mel-Tones from a Musicraft CD booklet:

http://www.madduran.com/cdcovers/bossanova.jpg http://www.madduran.com/cdcovers/bossanova.jpg http://www.madduran.com/cdcovers/brazil.jpg

My favourite Espresso from a local coffee roaster:

This, btw, seems to be the first recording of the tune, with Ben Tucker playing on it: The grrove is totally different!

Intersting that Bob Dorough didn't record it himself before 1979 (according to Tom Lord, whatever that means). Lord lists all of Tormé's recordings of the piece. I'd like to hear an early Dorough version.

BTW - who thought up those lyrics? I grew up with the Herbie Mann live version with Ben Tucker guesting, which has no hint at these phrases.

You cannot improve something that is not there in the original source.

These guys probably were players he was familiar with. Those you mention might have been slightly too modern for him and may have tended to steal the spotlight a bit. His sidemen totally support him and that serves him perfectly. He needed players with a strong R & B touch. The Dexter sessions took place but remained unreleased for many years, there is a tinge of sadness about the loss of his former Eckstine bandmate lingering over them.

This affects our local top pianist, Uwe Oberg.

I think calling the singers inferior indicates a serious misunderstanding of the music in its original context. Abuse of technical possibilities. Just as severe as many early music fans in Germany that are unable to enjoy music without vocals. Never learned to listen and follow instrumental music.

If there isn't anything that was not on the OKeh twofer or the Centennial box, I'll pass.

Brunch with this box set, in memory of Astrud Gilberto. Reading about Getz exploiting her almost drives me mad.

Perfect midnight listening.

Tom Nicholas, born in Philadelphia on March 8, 1938, died at his home in Germany on June 16, 2023, as his son Kamal reported on facebook this morning. He had started on cello, but switched to percussion and was reported to have played with Jimmy McGriff as a teenager. He moved to California after his army service and recorded with Michael Howell (one track featured in a recent Blindfold Test) and John Handy, played with Kenny Burrell, Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Eddie Moore. He moved to New York in the 1970s, played with George Coleman and recorded with Roland Prince but decided to move to Europe in 1977. He landed a regular gig with Lou Blackburn's Afro Jazz band Mombasa soon after and played with many bands on the German jazz scene, most notably with Peter Giger's Family of Percussion. Among his last activities was a band with saxophonist Anke Schimpf - here you can see some photos from his birthday concert. He was my first conga drum teacher, I admired his solid timing and swing - as he said "I always have a good time playing" - and sounded great, no matter what conga drum you placed in front of him. When I met him in 1978 he had a heavy fiberglass conga with a very thick muleskin that I hardly could get to sound. Regrettably, it was stolen when Mombasa's band bus was broken in. I'll never forget how he tried to encourage us to sound "more deutlich", make a clear distinction between different sounds on the conga. R.I.P., and eternal thanks for the inspiration. https://www.discogs.com/artist/1059178-Tom-Nicholas?type=Credits&subtype=Instruments-Performance&filter_anv=0 https://www.facebook.com/tomnicholassr

Not exactly jazz, but related: Has this been mentioned?

This morning: