duaneiac

There are a lot of good and probably, for most people, surprising, musical moments to be found in Dave Brubeck's later Concord and Telarc recordings. I think toomany people figure they "know" all about Dave Brubeck after hearing "Take Five", "Blue Rondo a la Turk", "The Duke" and maybe "In Your Own Sweet Way", the basic "hits" of the classic DBQ. People who listen to his piano work in the classic DBQ seem to think that that was all he could do. On the contrary, that style of playing was an artistic choice of his; whether one likes that choice or not is another matter, but it should be accepted that he played that way by choice, not because of some greater lack of musical ability or sophistication. My guess is that once he found the ideal playing partner in Paul Desmond, he realized that Mr. Desmond would always be there to handle the gorgeous lyrical aspect of a song, so why should the pianist duplicate that lyrical mood? Better to have a strong musical contrast between the two lead voices in the group, mixing Mr. Desmond's lyricism with Mr. Brubeck's more robust approach to produce a kind of "sweet and sour" musical fare. In later years, when he reformed the DBQ with new musicians, Mr. Brubeck's playing changed, especially in the long-running group that included Bobby Militello, whose style of playing was quite different from Mr. Desmond's. Mr. Militello's playing had a more vigorous bebop-rooted sound, and in contrast, Mr. Brubeck's playing became more lyrical in those years. This is the version of the DBQ that I got to see several times and in each concert there were moments of sheer beauty in Mr. Brubeck's playing. I recall one concert I saw in Santa Cruz, when Mr. Brubeck recalled to the audience that he used to help his rancher father bring cattle down to the fair at the Santa Cruz County fairgrounds when he was a boy. This led him to think of a song from those long gone days and he said he wanted to play it even though the band had never played it before and didn't even know what song he was talking about. He would just start playing and he said the band should jump in when they wanted. So he started playing "Memories Of You" and I think the drummer Randy Jones played a few bars on brushes before he dropped out and joined his bandmates and the rest of the audience in enjoying this very lovely and poignant piece of music. There is a lot of good music to be found on the solo recordings he made for Telarc in the late 1990's and 2000's. even his Christmas album, which is a solo piano affair, has some wonderful playing (if one likes holiday music). As far as I am concerned, there is a whole lot more "there" there than people generally give him credit for.

One could almost randomly insert any ECM album cover here

I thought the series has been very well handled, overall. The updating of the characters to fit modern times and technology seems believable and natural. There is a dose of humor to all the shows, but it never overwhelms the stories. The twists to the original stories that the writers and producers have made have generally been admirable, with the possible exception of their take on "The Hound of The Baskervilles" which seemed a little forced to me, as though they really had to reach to come up with a modern day spin on that tale. The acting has been excellent as well. I checked out the 3 seasons on DVD from the library and some of the commentary tracks were worth listening to. This series was certainly a welcome relief after the horrible Robert Downey Jr. Holmes movies. I checked out one of those from the library, but I couldn't even make it throught he first 5 minutes, it looked so awful.

As some one who has a mostly favorable view towards OP, I still have can't believe that he would have been any vocalist's first choice as an accompanist -- not in a world in which Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles. Ellis Larkins, Teddy Wilson, Dick Hyman and so many others still existed. Yet there OP was, courtesy of Norman Granz, backing up (or shoving aside, depending on your view) such singers as Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day and Bill Henderson (and maybe some others I've forgotten. Blossom Dearie was fortunate that she accompanied herself or I'm sure she would have been backed by Op as well. I can fully understand some one who does not like OP's playing resenting his presence on an otherwise good recording by say Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Benny Carter, or whoever else. I'm guessing that one reason Mr. Granz used him so frequently in the recording studio is that he knew exactly what to expect from him (heck, we ALL know exactly what to expect from him). Since Mr. Granz was not one to waste studio time and since he liked to get most of his recordings done with the bare minimum of rehearsal and in as few takes as possible, he probably felt some confidence in having the reliability of OP (and the entire rhythm section on those recordings where Ray Brown and Herb Ellis and sometimes Louis Bellson were involved) at hand. I can imagine, especially when he was working with performers such as Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day and Charlie Parker whose personal and performing lives could be somewhat unpredictable, Mr. Granz really wanted/appreciated the dependability of OP in the studio as one less thing to worry about.

I thought the story was that Lee Mendelson had made a short documentary film about Charles Schulz, that for some reason never was picked up for television. He had contacted Vince Guaraldi to do musical interludes for that project. All three men lived in the SF Bay Area, so it made some sense. Then when Mr. Mendelson and Mr. Schulz began tossing around the idea of an animated Peanuts TV special, they recalled the music that Mr. Guaraldi had done for the earlier project and since they liked that, they asked him to do some music for the animated project. I don't think any one involved in creating the project or at CBS had any idea that what they had on their hands would become a holiday tradition (now 50 years old). they probably all viewed it as a one time broadcast, that would be aired and then forgotten like most Christmas specials. So I don't think any one at CBS (and by 1965 were not the broadcast division and the recording company division pretty much separate entities?) would have had the foresight to think, "We've got to hold onto the music rights to this cash cow!"

Thanks for that link. Here's the Top 10 for my birthday: Runaway - Del Shannon (up from #2 the previous week, switching places with this week's #2) Blue Moon - The Marcels (probably the first version of a Gershwin song I ever heard) Mother-In-Law - Ernie-K-Do But I Do - Clarence "Stop Calling Me Frogman" Henry On The Rebound - Floyd Cramer (never heard of this song, by Mr. Cramer or by any one else that I know of) A Hundred Pounds Of Clay - Gene McDaniels (great voice, mediocre song) I've Told Every Little Star - Linda Scott (I don't think I've heard this particular recording of this song) You Can Depend On Me - Brenda Lee (ditto) Take Good Care of Her - Adam Wade (who???) One Mint Julep - Ray Charles (well all right!!!!) Looking further down the chart I found such entries as: 13 - Dedicated To The One I Love - The Shirelles (always love me some Shirelles) 25 - Gee Whiz (Look AT His Eyes) - Carla Thomas 29 - Think Twice - Brook Benton 33 - Bumble Boogie - B. Bumble & The Stingers (several instrumentals made the charts back in those days) 40 - Trust In Me - Etta James (a classic) 42 (shooting up from #78 the week before) - Mama Said - The Shirelles (another classic) 57 - (Theme From) My Three Sons - Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra 58 - Bonanza - Al Caiola and His Orchestra 61 - Exodus - Eddie Harris 64 - African Waltz - Cannonball Adderley Orchestra (jazz made the charts!!!!!)

Another celebrity I honestly had no idea was still among us until now. May he RIP As a kid, I think I first saw him in I always tend to confuse him with Ken Berry, but I guess Ken Berry was the poor man's Dean Jones.

A follow-up exercise -- here are the Number 1 songs on my birthday for the first 18 years of my life along with my personal 1 to 5 star rating of each. Runaway - Del Shannon (***1/2) Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley (**) He's So Fine - The Chiffons (*****!) Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles (****1/2) Game of Love - Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders (I haven't heard this song in years, but as I recall it, I'd rate it ***) (You're My) Soul) And Inspiration - The Righteous Brothers (***1/2) Somethin' Stupid - Nancy & Frank Sinatra (sorry, but this song has always been a guilty pleasure, so *****) Honey - Bobby Goldsboro (0 stars, but I will give it ) Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures) - The Fifth Dimension (*****) Let It Be - The Beatles (*****) Joy To The World - Three Dog Night (****) The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberts Flack (*****+++) Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree (what a difference a year can make; 0 stars) TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) - MFSB and The Three Degrees (another song I haven't heard in years, but based on my memory of it, I'll give it ***1/2) Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John (****) Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor (not a fan; **) Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston (I prefer the Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' version, but I'll give this ****) Night Fever - Bee Gees (**) Knock On Wood (Amii Stewart (**)

Hey -- at least both you and Tony Bennett are still around!

You can discover the #1 song (I assume from US record charts) from the day you were born here: http://playback.fm/birthday-song For me, it was "Runaway' by Del Shannon. (The site also informed me that i am over 28 million minutes old ) Any one else care to share?

Maybe there is more animosity aimed at OP because he was more high profile over so many decades. From the 1950's on, Norman Granz did his very best to make OP THE jazz pianist in the mind of the public at large. Thanks to Mr. Granz's tireless promotion, average music listeners who may not have had many jazz albums in their collection, probably had an OP album (not to mention a Miles Davis album, a Dave Brubeck album, maybe a George Shearing or Erroll Garner album). Mr. Granz also put OP in the recording studio with literally every one he could get his hands on -- Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Stephane Grappelli and on and on and on. The sheer number of recordings on which he appeared could have easily worn out his welcome with some listeners. I don't think any musician, no matter how gifted, could appear on as many recordings as OP did and sound fresh and inventive each and every time. Gene Harris had a successful career, but on a smaller scale. Sure he was a Blue Note recording artist, but among jazz fans, he is probably not among the top names that would come to mind when asked to name their favorite Blue Notes musicians. I don't know that Mr. Harris really achieved the sort of fame among the wider public, which had little interest in jazz, that OP did. I was not around during the glory years of The Three Sounds, so I don't know how well known they were outside the realm of jazz aficionados. Then he pretty much disappeared for a few years before making a comeback with the Ray Brown Trio and after that he recorded as a leader for the smaller Concord Records label. So I don't think he ever had the same level of promotion or visibility that OP benefited from thanks to Mr. Granz. As far as their playing goes, I enjoy them both, but usually in small quantities -- perhaps an album at a time. I could never picture myself going on a listening binge of the recordings of either pianist.

I like this very funny series, but watching it several episodes at a time kind of diminishes the humor a bit. There are no bonus features on the DVD set.

"Conceived to honor the memory of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton and to encourage unpublished authors who do not have the time to actually write books, the contest challenges entrants to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Bulwer was selected as patron of the competition because he opened his novel "Paul Clifford" (1830) with the immortal words, "It was a dark and stormy night." Lytton’s sentence actually parodied the line and went on to make a real sentence of it, but he originated the line "The pen is mightier than the sword," and the expression "the great unwashed." His best known work is "The Last Day's of Pompeii" (1834), an historical novel that has been adapted for film multiple times." You should check out the winners here: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2015win.html but to whet your appetite, here are a few runners-up: I knew that dame was damaged goods when she first sauntered in, and I don't mean lightly scratched and dented goods that a reputable merchant like Home Depot might offer in a clearly marked end display sale; no, she was more like the kind of flashy trashy plastic knockoff that always carries a child-choking hazard that no self-respecting 11-year-old Chinese sweat shop kids would ever call theirs. An evil darkness strode across the forsaken lands of Marmon, casting a shadow like a superhero whose cape’s special power is to turn day into night, that was how the darkness strode (not like the superhero who was otherwise a very nice man). The night was dark; which is a bit redundant, since night is by definition dark, unless it's a stormy night when lightning causes moments of brilliant light, or except in places like Norway or Alaska where summer nights can be pretty light, but still, most of the time when you say “night,” people are going to think “dark.”

Great post, Justin. Sounds like it was a wonderful evening.

Funny (for me) thing about Mel Martin, though. I had a college buddy from the Bay Area who hated the guy because apparently back in his days with Cold Blood, Mel Martin was one of those guys who would show up on everybody's gig to sit in. Everywhere all the time. I asked my buddy if he sucked or anything, was that why he always said the words "Mel Martin" with such disdain, and his answer still makes me laugh - "no, he plays well enough...it's just that....he's always there....you turn around to order a drink, look back up, and....there's Mel Martin up on the stand...HE NEVER GOES AWAY...YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM STOP!!!!". That's funny!

A 2 CD compilation.

Mel Martin, another SF area musician who would be much better known if he lived/worked in NYC. I just recently listened to his most recent CD, Where The Warm Winds Blow, and it demonstrates he has quite a fluent and creative voice on a number of reed instruments. He has recorded a few CDs with his idol/mentor Benny Carter and some CDs with his group Bebop & Beyond. His work is definitely worth checking out if you are unfamiliar with him.

i don't think these two have been mentioned here yet, but they should be so I will do so: Buddy Montgomery and Bobby Troup

At the San Jose Jazz Festival --excuse me, simply "Summer Fest" they like to call it now because they hate to advertise that there is actually a small amount of jazz to be found there as that might scare away potential customers -- on Saturday I had a great time. The highlight for me was seeing the performance of Ricky Woodard and special guest Ernie Andrews. Mr. Woodard is a wonderful tenor sax player, very bluesy, very soulful, unabashedly romantic on ballads. He performed a few numbers with the trio of local musicians (including pianist Murray Lowe, drummer Wally Schnalle and bassist John Schifflett) ranging from "Day by Bay" to Cedar Walton's "Holy Land" to "My One And Only Love". That was an excellent set in itself, but once he was joined by Mr. Andrews, things took off to another level. Mr. Andrews is 87 now, but he has not lost a bit of power and emotion in his singing voice. The show was in a small room and I swear he could have done the entire set without a microphone. He may well be one of the last of the great blues shouters. Even at his age today, he could have gone toe to toe with Joe Turner in his prime and it would have been a close contest. He sang a couple of standards, "Time After Time" and "Once In A Lifetime", but focused mostly on blues numbers including the riotous "I'd Love Me" and a version of "All Blues" which incorporated snippets of other blues classics The man was incredible and to borrow the phrase I learned from the Miles Davis autobiography, "clean as a broke dick dog". If you ever have the opportunity to see him perform live, do not miss it. I also saw the full set by the John Pizzarrelli Quartet. I know he probably doesn't have many fans here, but he is a wonderful musician and one of the most engaging performers I've ever seen. He doesn't "dumb down" his music at all, but he certainly makes his brand of jazz appealing and accommodating to a wider audience. he still has his brother Martin on bass, but there were a couple of new musicians in the group since the last time I saw them maybe 3 years ago. The pianist is Konrad Paszkudzki and the drummer is Kevin Kanner and both appear in the group heard on Mr. Pizzarelli's latest CD, Salutes Johnny Mercer, recorded live at Birdland. He performed a number of songs from that disc as well as songs by Duke Ellington (including "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" set against the melody of "East St. Louis Toddle-oo") and the Allman Brothers "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" intertwined with Wes Montgomery's "Four On Six". It was a typically enjoyable set by Mr. Piazzarelli. I saw the last half hour of a set by a group called Bombay Jazz, a quartet of Larry Coryell, saxophonist George Brooks, bamboo flute master Ronu Majumdar and tabla virtuoso Aditya Kalyanpur. It was interesting, definitely a change of pace, but not something I'd listen to everyday. I also caught the last half of a set by trumpeter Etienne Charles and his group Creole Soul which was pretty good. He is from Trinidad and his music incorporates the influence of his cultural upbringing. I rounded out the day by catching the set of Octobop, a local 8 piece group which plays West Coast style jazz.. They did a little tribute to the late Howard Rumsey and played songs by Shorty Rogers and Dave Pell, but also "Mas Que Nada" and Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" as well as a couple of attractive original numbers. A nice way to end the day.

I'll be going to the San Jose Jazz Festival this Saturday. It's a 3 day event, but Sat. has the most performers I'd be interested in seeing. There's nothing at all on the main stage which interests me, but on the ancillary stages there will be the John Pizzarelli Quartet, Zigaboo Modeliste, Ricky Woodard with Ernie Andrews (!), Etienne Charles and a couple of Bay Area groups, Octobop and the Bob Schulz Frisco Jazz Band. I doubt if I will get to see them all as a couple of them perform at the same time, but I will try to catch as many as I can.

He was featured in a segment on NPR yesterday: http://www.npr.org/2015/08/02/428082321/a-very-young-jazz-pianist-takes-giant-steps-towards-musical-mastery