duaneiac

I have no particularly strong feelings about Orrin Keepnews. I don't like speaking ill of the recently departed. If others enjoy pissing on his yet to be dug grave, that's their business. Life's a tough business. None of us make it out of here as perfect and unblemished as the day we were born. We struggle along and do the best we can. We'll please some folks and piss off other folks. But when we die, we should at least allow the former group to recall us fondly and the latter group to leave it be.

What say you, Bobby Hutcherson? “Orrin was always going like a house on fire, coming up with new ideas and recording people so they could be heard,” says Hutcherson, the great jazz vibraphonist who lives in Montara and was the first artist Mr. Keepnews recorded when he started Landmark in 1980. “He was quite a guy,” says Hutcherson, who would dine with Mr. Keepnews and his late first wife, Lucy, at their Richmond District flat —appropriately located on Parker Street, as in the jazz comet Charlie Parker — and go over a few details about a forthcoming session. “Orrin would call a few days later, and you’d go into the studio and he had everything arranged. All you had to do was play.” Although not a musician, “he had ears,” Hutcherson adds. “He could hear harmonies. He could listen to an ensemble and tell you what needed to be tightened up.” Hutcherson recalls Mr. Keepnews asking Tyner if the pianist could keep a track to about five minutes so it could work on radio. “Sure enough, when the record came out, that was the tune on the radio all the time.” http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Deaths-Orrin-Keepnews-giant-of-the-jazz-world-6108907.php

Wish I could find a larger image. I have this CD.

Well, I trust every one who has been horribly offended by the life and work of Orrin Keepnews will now go out and burn every recording they have on which his name appear. That'll learn the sumbitch! I mean after all, jazz is certainly no place for a contentious or egotistical person to be. (I'm lookin' at you , Jelly Roll!) So far as I know, Mr. Keepnews paid the musicians he recorded what they were due, both in salaries and royalties. It's not like the man was Herman Lubinsky or something. If all he did for the recordings on which his name appeared was get the money together to pay for the studio time and the musicians recording time, to pay for pressing the albums, to pay to have them distributed and promoted nationally -- that's a hell of a lot of work itself. Do I care if he possibly/probably inflated his role in the music making process? Not really. I'd rather not waste any time stewing over that when I could be listening to some Thelonious Monk albums or Cannonball Adderley albums or Wes Montgomery albums . . .

Ok, Keepnews was obviously an important individual in some ways, but calling him a "towering figure" (side by side with Sonny Rollins!) is absurd. (GA, sorry about the harsh wording. No offense intended.) No problem, Guy! It seems to me that the founders/co-founders of Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, Pacific Jazz and Contemporary were all towering figures of '50s jazz. And perhaps Verve and Fantasy as well? In my earlier list I neglected to mention Lou Donaldson and Benny Golson, both pretty important figures in the 50's. Jack Sheldon, while perhaps not towering, was still a notable musician in the 1950's and he's still with us. Probably the most towering musical figures of the 1950's who are still around today are from outside the world of jazz: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino -- and from the opposite end of the musical spectrum, Doris Day!

Guess it depends on how you define "towering". Jimmy Heath, Kenny Burrell, Bill Holman, Dave Pell, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross are still alive and kicking

Not sure if this one was used before

I have a lot of Orrin Keepnews produced recordings in my collection, from Riverside to Milestone to Landmark, by every one from Thelonious Monk to Wesla Whitfield. He was a presence here in the SF Bay Area jazz scene and I saw him at a few concerts -- sometimes to introduce the evening's performer, sometimes just as an audience member. He will be missed. May he rest in eternal peace.

Is this a drawing or photo? The liner notes say it is an illustration done by Alan Nahigian, so I guess it is based on one of his photos.

Can't tell if this one is for Apple or for Android developers. Just goes to show you how language -- even slang language -- changes. Since State Farm Insurance was the sponsor of Jack Benny's TV show at the time, this promotional album was distributed to State Farm agents. It was meant to be music to fill out customer's applications for insurance.

Rosemary Clooney was one of the most "natural" performers I've ever seen. I got to see her in concert twice in her later years, the last time being just a couple of weeks before what was recorded and released as her final concert. Granted, her vocal range had diminished some in her later years and even moreso by the time of that final concert, yet she was such an engaging presence and such an excellent interpreter of lyrics, that one was more than willing to overlook any vocal shortcomings. She did a lot of banter between numbers, probably to catch her breath and give her singing voice some rest, but whether it was tale about meeting the Pope, driving through the streets of San Francisco with Bing Crosby behind the wheel or a story about one of her grandkids, she was warm and funny and "real". Two of my favorite songs by her from her later years -- http://youtu.be/R7NWxLUHFlA A wonderful version as one would expect from an Irish lass. Whether you are Irish or not, take a few minutes to listen to that and visit your own private Glocca Morra. http://youtu.be/Db1dt7pqioQ Any of you 20-something wannabe jazz singers, please do NOT attempt this song. You haven't lived enough to sing it yet.