Smoke and mirrors
Rendez-Vous Avec Rex Stewart Barclay Records (France)
K & J.J. East Coast Jazz Bethlehem Records (Cover by Burt Goldblatt)
(34 votes, average: 3.85 out of 5)
Loading ...Jazz
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(34 votes, average: 3.85 out of 5) Loading ...Alto ‘tude
Hank Crawford “More Soul” Atlantic Records (1961) Portrait by Lee Friedlander. Along with David “Fathead” Newman, Hank Crawford lead the pre-eminent sax section of Ray Charles classic group of the late 50′s – early 60′s. Crawford, who joined Charles’ band in 1957, primarily held down the role of baritone sax player, but with this recording he’s able to stretch out on the alto. As he often did with Ray Charles, More Soul sees Hank in the role of arranger. The night that this record was cut, I’ve read, Crawford played Harlem’s Apollo theater until 1am, took the short ride down to Broadway and the Atlantic studios and recorded these seven tracks before dawn. Crawford’s arrangements for septet dispense with piano, aside from a little comping by Hank, which vividly opens out the sound of brass and horns, and gives a greater weight and clarity to the bass/drums rhythm section of Edgar Willis and Milt Turner. Fathead Newman plays tenor. The great Tom Dowd engineered. Nesuhi Ertegun produced. Check it out!
(27 votes, average: 3.30 out of 5) Loading ...Plas please me
Plas Johnson on Tampa Records (1956) This red vinyl LP was reissued as “Bop Me, Daddy”. The accompanying musicians are: Ray Johnson (piano), Duke Harris (bass) and Sharky Hall (drums). The songs are: Makin’ Whoopee/Last Call/Dungaree Hop/Drum Magic/Blue Jean Shuffle/Plasma/Jackpot/Red Cider.
Plas Johnson can be heard on dozens of R&B recordings made in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, including ones by Don and Dewey, Larry Williams, the Cadets, Richard Berry, and many others. Perhaps his first noteworthy solo was the short piccolo figure that stands for the eponymous bird’s call on Bobby Day’s hit, “Rockin’ Robin.” He was a favorite featured saxman of Lex Baxter who wrote solos specially for him on African Jazz and Tamboo! And at Capitol he recorded with Nat “King” Cole, Peggy Lee, and Frank Sinatra. Plas even sat in on most of the early Beach Boys classics and was an integral part of a number of rock groups that existed in name only, such as B. Bumble and the Stingers and the Mar-Ketts.
While he may not be known by name outside music and collector’s circles, his sax intro to the “Pink Panther Theme” and his playing (with Harry “Sweets” Edison) on the soundtrack to “The Odd Couple” have made his playing part of our collective cultural consciousness.
(22 votes, average: 3.23 out of 5) Loading ...O’Day oh!
Anita O’Day “Collates” CLEF Records (Produced by Norman Granz) (1953) A 10 inch LP containing a compilation of eight previous singles. Re-released as Anita O’Day by Norgran Records in 1955 and with four additional tracks as The Lady Is A Tramp on the Verve label in 1957. A classic David Stone Martin illustration.
(26 votes, average: 3.15 out of 5) Loading ...Don’t get around much anymore
Here are two cover variations for “Night Out Music for Stay-At-Homes” A nice compilation by Coral recording artists Nat King Cole, Billy Taylor, Errol Garner, etc. Either one works for me. Blonde or brunette, obviously staying at home means slipping into something comfortable. One has company too.
(19 votes, average: 3.84 out of 5) Loading ...Byrd est le word!
This rare album was originally issued on the French Brunswick label – and it features a quintet that includes Bobby Jaspar on tenor, Walter Davis Jr on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Titles include “Ray’s Idea”, “Flute Blues”, “Paul’s Pal”, “Dear Old Stockholm”, and “The Blues Walk”
(32 votes, average: 3.59 out of 5) Loading ...RIP Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011)
“Pieces of a Man” Flying Dutchman Records (1971) With Brian Jackson, Ron Carter, “Pretty” Purdie, Burt Jones, and Hubert Laws Including The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Save The Children, Lady Day And John Coltrane, Home Is Where The Hatred Is, Pieces Of A Man and the beautiful “I Think I’ll Call It Morning”
(36 votes, average: 3.61 out of 5) Loading ...Soul sister #1
Leon Spencer “Louisiana Slim” Prestige Records (1971) A natural black beauty with a funky soul medallion.
(32 votes, average: 3.66 out of 5) Loading ...
“Albino Red” Rodney
Red Rodney A nice Prestige 10″ Features Jim Ford, Phil Raphael, Phil Leshin, and Phil Brown. Tracks: The Baron, This Time the Dream’s On Me, Mark, If You Are But a Dream, Red Wig, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Coogan’s Bluff
Robert Chudnick (Red Rodney), trumpeter and bandleader: born Philadelphia 27 September 1927; died Boynton Beach, Florida 27 May 1994.
AS THE FIRST white Bebop trumpet player, Red Rodney had one of the most prized jobs in jazz, playing trumpet in the quintet of the altoist Charlie Parker.
In 1945, when Rodney was 17, he was befriended by another trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie, who in turn introduced him to Charlie Parker and the black musicians of New York.
‘I heard Charlie Parker and that was it’, said Rodney, ‘That was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.’ He became one of the first generation of Bebop trumpet players. The others were Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro and Kenny Dorham – Rodney survived them all.
In 1950 Parker was offered a very lucrative tour of the southern states by his agent Billy Shaw.
‘You gotta get rid of that redheaded trumpet player. We can’t have a white guy in a black band down south,’ Shaw told Parker.
‘I ain’t gonna get rid of him. He’s my man. Ain’t you ever heard of an albino? Red’s an albino,’ claimed Parker.
Rodney knew nothing of this until the quintet arrived for the first job of the tour at Spiro’s Beach in Maryland, where he was surprised to find a poster reading ‘The King of Bebop, Charlie Parker and His Orchestra featuring Albino Red, Blues Singer’.
‘You gotta sing the blues, Chood baby,’ said Parker (‘Chood’ was his nickname for Rodney, derived from the trumpeter’s real name, Chudnick).
When Parker died in 1955, Rodney joined Charlie Ventura for a short time, but his life became overwhelmed by his drug addiction and he left music altogether in 1958. He drifted to Las Vegas where, as a drug addict, he became a familiar of the local vice squad. He was sentenced several times to the federal narcotics hospital at Lexington, Kentucky.
One day he saw a photograph in a newspaper of one General Arnold T. MacIntyre. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘I look like this cat’ A scheme took shape in his mind. A friendly printer forged some credit cards for him in MacIntyre’s name and 20 cheques, each for $1,840, the average monthly salary of a major- general. Rodney dyed his hair grey and bought a major-general’s uniform. Suitably equipped, he would walk into a bank and present himself as General MacIntyre, ask to see the manager, and flash his wad of credit cards. Using these methods he managed to live a life of luxury for a year.
He gave up drugs in 1978, his wife Helene called him ‘a born- again virgin’, and his career took off again when he formed a band with his fellow trumpeter Ira Sullivan and the pianist Gary Dial. Rodney took up the fluegelhorn to great effect. Playing better than ever before, he was in demand all over the world for clubs, concert halls and festivals and in his final years some of the best musicians of the younger generation, notably the remarkable alto player Chris Potter, queued up to join his band.
(25 votes, average: 2.76 out of 5) Loading ...
