Harry James

[Lazaro Vega]

Dan Morgenstern said "You Made Me Love You" was the Harry James recording jazz fans never forgave him for making. Personally, I'm over it. After spending the early 1950's in semi-retirement with Bette Grable raising horses, James appeared in the film "The Benny Goodman Story" and the bug bit him: he was back with a Count Basie style big band that he kept swinging for the rest of his career, often with Buddy Rich on drums. Thanks to Dick Fletcher, brother of band leader Sammy Fletcher, for donating some great live Harry James recordings (off the radio in 1948, live from Chicago, 1964, live in Florida, 1970) to Blue Lake, which you'll hear tonight, 10 p.m. - 3 a.m. edt via http://www.bluelake.org/radio.html

[JSngry]

Harry & Buddy & Boogaloo & Electic piano, all of it waaaaay hipper than it had any kind of right to be, especially in 1965!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFloJkNa-Rc

Harry & Buddy & Red Kelley swinging theirs & everybody else's asses off

[Mark Stryker]

Harry & Buddy & Boogaloo & Electic piano, all of it waaaaay hipper than it had any kind of right to be, especially in 1965!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFloJkNa-Rc

both the pianist and alto sound good (slick Cannonball bluesy trills and a reference to One Mint Julip in the first "4" with James). Anybody know who it is?

[Chuck Nessa]

Nice.

[JSngry]

both the pianist and alto sound good (slick Cannonball bluesy trills and a reference to One Mint Julip in the first "4" with James). Anybody know who it is?

One poster on YouTube says this:

Trpts: Tony Scodwell, Tom Porrello, Sanford Skinner (?), Nick Bouno.

Trbs: Ray Sims, Joe Cadena, Dave Wheeler (BsT).

Saxes: Just recognize Joe Riggs with Harry, and Corky Corcoran on first tenor.

Rhythm: Looks like Red Kelly on bass, and Jack Perceval, piano.

Joe Riggs would be the alto soloist.

The chart is "Sunday Mornin'" by Neil Hefti.

You notice how much this whole band sounds like Buddy's band from a year later (which Harry James helped fund, I think)?

Tell you what, Buddy Rich is somebody who is "not for all tastes at all times', but that MF could drive a big band like nobody else. Not better than anybody else (whatever that means), just he did what he did as perfectly as it could be done.

And kudos to Harry James for keeping a decent band playing decent music over the years and not falling into The Nostalgia Trap anymore than absolutely necessary.

Here's the same band playing a Thad Jones arrangement of "Tuxedo Junction". Sounds like it was easy money for Thad, all he really came up with was the 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, but it's a damn good 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, and besides - Harry James was cool enough to put the money in Thad's pocket and not some hack's. It's not like most people would have been able to tell the difference, ya' know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLUAF0XA3d8

And once again - Red Kelley & Buddy keep it in the pocket. Didn't have to be that way!

Here's another one. Nothing superbadasship, just...a lot better than it had to be.

Self-respect!

[Chuck Nessa]

Agreed.

[AllenLowe]

some unsolicited Harry James suggestions:

1) the small group session with the Basie-ites (Herschel Evans, Jo Jones - maybe -, et al ) - late '30s?

2) Soundrtrack to Young Man With a Horn. Almost boppish at times, by way of Ray Eldridge, along with Doris Day.

3) the 1948 HJ big band had an amazing trombonist named Carl Elmer; a bebopper in the same league, IMHO, as Jimmy Knepper.

Edited March 16, 2012 by AllenLowe

[AllenLowe]

btw, that Boogaloo thing is worthy of Don Ellis, with a few alterations - and yes, that's the Buddy Rich who was a great drummer - when, IMHO, he wasn't leading his own band.

And harry james sounds great - note, I think, the Robbin's Nest quote on A Train - and High Society near the end.

Edited March 16, 2012 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

that's the Buddy Rich who was a great drummer - when, IMHO, he wasn't leading his own band.

No way IMO I can agree with that. The real problem I had with Buddy's bands was as that time went by, he was hiring more and more players straight out of college and the ensemble sound lost any real distinctiveness. There was nobody to push back, so to speak.

But there's stuff on those early Pacific Jazz & RCA sides where band and drummer are groin to groin, and the energy is enthusiastically orgiastic. Granted, not everybody likes that sort of thing, but geez, it's like jazz headbanger music, it knows what it wants to do and does it, and if you don't like it, leave the room. And there's more variety than there came to be, especially early on.

And what's really weird, on the 3/4 or 6/8 things, Buddy almost sounds like Elvin and almost feels like him even more. Go figure that one, only that it makes sense in the sense that everybody pretty much knows who's playing and who's not, and it's all there in the air.

I saw the band live once, in 1973 in a college gym, one of those one-nighters where they rolled in, set up, did the hit, tore down, and booked on out.. No bullshit was played and no prisoners were taken. Full bore from start to finish.

No way I can take a steady diet of that, especially these days, but damn, it was what it was, and bullshit-free is always ok with me, even if do I have to leave the room.

[jeffcrom]

some unsolicited Harry James suggestions:

3) the 1948 HJ big band had an amazing trombonist named Carl Elmer; a bebopper in the same league, IMHO, as Jimmy Knepper.

This interested me, so I pulled out all my Harry James sides with Ziggy Elmer; not much - three 78s and one 45. Alas, no trombone solos on any of it. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open, though.

[jeffcrom]

The chart is "Sunday Mornin'" by Neil Hefti.

Wow - that takes me back. I played that chart back in high school.

The retired band teacher in me also noticed that Mr. James used two different fingerings for the trumpet's E (concert D) - the standard first two valves sometimes, and the "incorrect," slightly out-of-tune third valve alone sometimes. It's obvious that he knew just what sound he wanted on each note.

Thanks for posting these videos.

[JSngry]

some unsolicited Harry James suggestions:

3) the 1948 HJ big band had an amazing trombonist named Carl Elmer; a bebopper in the same league, IMHO, as Jimmy Knepper.

This interested me, so I pulled out all my Harry James sides with Ziggy Elmer; not much - three 78s and one 45. Alas, no trombone solos on any of it. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open, though.

Look for a tune called "East Coast Blues". My late uncle played it for me on an old 78 waaaay back in the day, and the trombone solo made and impression that still lasts.

Thanks for posting these videos.

There's awhole set of VHS tapes called Meet The Bands (aka "Swingtime Videos" in some places) that feature a buttlload full of great bands from that same time on that same set. No idea where or what it was, but if you find'em someplace, carpe diem!

[AllenLowe]

Jeff - if you have Devilin Tune I think there's a Carl Elmer solo - maybe on a small group thing with James, though truth is my memory fails me now.

I also have an LP set of that band. I think Elmer disappeared into Vegas. But man, he had those real bebop chops with a nice funky sound, IIRC.

[Lazaro Vega]

Allen,

Did you catch the program? We started with Life Goes to a Party and Texas Chatter from the 1938/early '39 recordings of James with the Basie bandsmen (Basie wanted to help him get going as a band leader and lent him his guys: great Hershal Evans there).

There's a cheap-o CD on Laserlight Digital called Stompin' at the Savoy (15 771) from 1948 with "Ziggy" Elmer on it (who is probably your Carl), though Juan Tizol is also there and heard; Joe Mondgragon, bass and Don Lamond, drums. We played a big band version of Neal Hefti's Blue Beard Blues from that as well as King Porter (which is almost 7 minutes long).

Harry's Tuxedo Junction from that era shows his familiarity with Dizzy, FWIW.

There's this 1964 recording in stereo from The Holiday Ballroom in Chicago with Buddy that knocked me out last night. Played it late, after 2 a.m.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Lazaro Vega

[David Ayers]

On a related note, the James/Krupa Mosaic has now reappeared as a Capitol Vaults download. For those inclined to purchase downloads.

[Mark Stryker]

both the pianist and alto sound good (slick Cannonball bluesy trills and a reference to One Mint Julip in the first "4" with James). Anybody know who it is?

One poster on YouTube says this:

Trpts: Tony Scodwell, Tom Porrello, Sanford Skinner (?), Nick Bouno.

Trbs: Ray Sims, Joe Cadena, Dave Wheeler (BsT).

Saxes: Just recognize Joe Riggs with Harry, and Corky Corcoran on first tenor.

Rhythm: Looks like Red Kelly on bass, and Jack Perceval, piano.

Joe Riggs would be the alto soloist.

The chart is "Sunday Mornin'" by Neil Hefti.

You notice how much this whole band sounds like Buddy's band from a year later (which Harry James helped fund, I think)?

Tell you what, Buddy Rich is somebody who is "not for all tastes at all times', but that MF could drive a big band like nobody else. Not better than anybody else (whatever that means), just he did what he did as perfectly as it could be done.

And kudos to Harry James for keeping a decent band playing decent music over the years and not falling into The Nostalgia Trap anymore than absolutely necessary.

Here's the same band playing a Thad Jones arrangement of "Tuxedo Junction". Sounds like it was easy money for Thad, all he really came up with was the 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, but it's a damn good 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, and besides - Harry James was cool enough to put the money in Thad's pocket and not some hack's. It's not like most people would have been able to tell the difference, ya' know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLUAF0XA3d8

And once again - Red Kelley & Buddy keep it in the pocket. Didn't have to be that way!

Here's another one. Nothing superbadasship, just...a lot better than it had to be.

Self-respect!

That Thad Jones chart on "Tuxedo Junction" comes from a very nice 1964 James album comprised entirely of Thad's arrangements of swing era anthems: "New Versions of Down Beat Favorites" (MGM). I just discovered the record. Very well-crafted charts, full of piquant details but certainly more conservative than Thad was about to write for himself or the charts that he wrote for Basie around that time that didn't get used but then formed the core of the initial book for the Thad and Mel band. Yet there are hints here and there with particular harmonic substitutions and other witty flashes. On "Flying Home" in the final 8 bars of shout there's some quintessential biting dissonance in the brass. On "In the Mood" of all things there's a bizarre 16-bar interlude in the middle where it's suddenly shifts into a wild double-time quasi-mambo over a pedal point with an animated, James trumpet solo. It's nuts -- a good nuts.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Mark Stryker

[Mark Stryker]

Two more Thad Jones charts written for the Harry James Band. Sonny Payne is your drummer:

[Lazaro Vega]

Too bad a couple of those You Tube videos were yanked. Nice stuff. Yes, you have to follow copyright; it was good to hear them, though.