Dallas Bartley with Bill Martin: You Fine And Healthy Thing (1945)

In 1940 bassist Dallas Bartley (1916–1979) joined Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five. After he left Jordan in 1943 he formed his own band, Dallas Bartley’s Small Town Boys. With his band he recorded for Coral (September 1944), Cosmo (1946) and National (1947). His band also can be seen in a couple of soundies filmed in 1945.

Here they are playing “You Fine And Healthy Thing”:

The reason why I exactly choose this Dallas Bartley clip to present here, is my interest in Chicago trumpet player King Kolax who in jazz circles is mostly known because young John Coltrane played in his big band for a while in 1947 – you can find more about Kolax at the Kolax page at the Red Saunders Research Foundation. While googling around for Kolax material, I found out that it was composed jointly by Bartley and Kolax!

But what about the personnel?

Although different discographies say that the trumpeter player and singer is Walter Fuller, it definitely is Bill Martin, about whom you may learn more on the Hy-Tone page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation.

What about the alto player?

Les Fancourt’s and Bob McGrath’ “Blues Discography 1943–1970″ suggests that it is Porter Kilbert. Below you see a picture of Kilbert taken from a 1961 Quincy Jones concert clip. I would say it is well possible that it is the same man – 16 years later.

“Blues Discography 1943–1970″  does not mention the tenor player:

Who can this be? A possibility would be Joshua Jackson, who according to ”Blues Discography 1943–1970″ recorded with Bartley for Cosmo. Does anyone have a photo of Jackson and could compare it to the one above?

Following “Blues Discography”, the pianist is Bob Mosely, is that true?

Unfortunately I can not extract a better picture from the clip. So what about the drummer?

According to ”Blues Discography 1943–1970″  this is Jack Parker. But if you look  at the bass drum you see a logo that seems to be made from the letters H, L and B. This points to the drummer being Hillard L. Brown, who according to this page, was a member of Bartley’s band in 1945. He later had his own band, which Bill Martin joined later.

Elmer Gill on 45rpm

In the ususal discographical sources there are only very few entries for Canadian pianist and vibist Elmer Gill who used to play with Lionel Hampton for a while in the early fifties, in the period after Milt Buckner had left Hampton’s band. The listings of records under Gill’s name usually start with The Three Sides Of Elmer Gill, the rare LP Gill recorded with bassist David Friesen and drummer Al Johnson around 1968 in Vancouver for Canadian label Aragon (the third side of Elmer Gill is his singing).

Elmer Gill, 1995 probably
in Otto Flückiger’s garden

I met Elmer Gill when I portrayed him for the no longer existing swiss cultural magazine Stehplatz, that must have happened around 1997. Someday I will look up in the attic if I can find a copy to present it here.

I also witnessed Gill at some place in Switzerland, where he was playing with his son, drummer Donald Gill, and a bass player I cannot recall.

My friend Otto had befriended Elmer Gill who was splitting his life between Vancouver and a place in Switzerland, that I seem to have forgotten. Otto gathered a lot of material about Elmer Gill which I am going to present here sooner or later.

Meanwhile, while going through the 45 rpm records in the archives, I discovered two 45rpm records by the Elmer Gill Trio that were recorded much earlier than Gill’s earliest discographical entries– at least one of them. I present them here for your listeing pleasure. Please excuse the slight hum, my amplifier is being revised, and it’s replacement – well it hums! The first record is an EP on Chet Noland’s Celestial label, based in Seattle.

Muddy Waters/Clark Terry: Stormy Monday Blues (Nice, 1977)

Here is another clip from the same TV series (La Grande Parade Du Jazz) that the Gatemouth Brown clip comes from. This time you get the Muddy Waters Blues band featuring guest trumpeter Clark Terry playing T-Bone Walker’s classic “Stormy Monday Blues”. This was filmed in Nice, Southern France on July 10, 1977. Besides Clark Terry, Muddy’s band consists of Bob Margolin (eg), Guitar Junior (e.g.), Pinetop Perkins (p), Calvin Jones (eb) and Willy “Big Eyes” Smith (dr). Harmonica player Jerry Portnoy was also a member of Muddy’s band at that time, but he is not featured in this number.

Enjoy!

Gatemouth Brown in Nice, July 14 1977

“Jump, Jazz, Jive, Vintage R’n'B” my blog is bylined. But what about the blues, you may ask. Well, yes! So here I present you part of a concert the multitalented Clarence Gatemouth Brown (April 18, 1924 — September 10, 2005) gave in Nice in Southern France on July 14 1977. This is from an old VHS cassette that contains the french TV broadcast. Brown (voc, eg, violin) is accompanied by Billy Mitchell (ts); Lloyd Glenn (p); George Duvivier (b) and J.C. Heard. The tune’s title is “Dollar’s got the Blues”.

Enjoy!

Woody Shaw Quintet, Juan Les Pins 1979

Trumpeter and composer Woody Shaw (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was technically as well as musically one of the most influential trumpet players of the late twentieth century – and his influence is still large today. There are quite a few clips on youtube showing Woody at his best, but on one of the old VHS tapes I found one of Woody’s 1979 working quintet, that no-one has put on youtube yet. It was filmed for a french TV station at the Jazz à Juan festival in Juan Les Pins, Antibes at the Côte d’Azur on July 24, 1979. Voilà:

The personnel: Woody Shaw (tp), Carter Jefferson (ss), Onoje Allan Gumbs (p), Stafford James (b) and Victor Lewis (dr). It says they are playing “But Not For Me”, but is that true? It looks like I am not able to hear the Gershwin tune here, but maybe that’s because I am not a musician. Or is there a different tune with the same title by someone else? Any help on this point is very much welcome.

An Interview with Abdullah Ibrahim (1995)

Back in 1995 I had the chance to interview south african pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (formerly known as Dollar Brand), on the day before his concert at the Musik der Welt Festival in Basel. Originally my friend Buffo, who worked as a photographer at that time, and me were to talk to Ibrahim in his hotel room, but because the hotel had noted him down as “Ibrahim Abdullah” they did not realize whom we were trying too reach for about thirty minutes. So we arrived at his room door rather late. Ibrahim was nervous, because his wife Bea Benjamin was due to arrive any minute, so he asked us to come to the rehearsal in Radio Studio Basel later in the day.

A few hours later, after a short verbal hustle with the studio’s doorman we finally met Ibrahim,  who stopped the rehearsal to talk to us for about an hour, while sitting at the piano.

Etta James R.I.P.

Just received the sad news that singer Etta James has passed from Leukemia today, a few days before her 74th birthday. I would have liked to upload a small musical tribute to Etta, but I have to leave the house soon to start my work as DJ Crown Propeller at the Helsinkiklub in Zürich (Geroldstrasse 35). I surely will be doing a small tribute to Etta during the evening, so you might want to come. The evening’s band is Nadja Zela with Mr. Fisch & The Sea Shanty Singers (hereby strongly recommended).

Cootie Williams with Cleanhead Vinson (1943)

Trumpeter Cootie Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in 1928. He rose to fame with Duke Ellington’s orchestra in which he played from 1929 to 1940. In the Ellington band Williams was renowned for his “jungle” style of playing with a lot of growls, he was also a master of the plunger mute. After a short stint with Benny Goodman, Williams formed his own band in 1941. This band that at different times had sideman like Bud Powell, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Eddie Johnson in its rank. From the mid fourties on his band turned more toward jump and  rhythm ‘n’ blues.

From Chicago Defender, July 17, 1943.
Taken from Franz Hoffmanns “Jazz Advertised”.
Note “Eddie Vincent”, who is of course
Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.

On one of Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes I found a six minute clip by Cootie and his Orchestra which I am presenting you here. It was filmed in New York, in mid June, 1943. Originally this was released as Columbia Pictures film “Film Vodvil” (series 1, release no. 2). According to Mark Cantor (via Tom Lord) the on-screen personnel is also heard on the soundtrack:

Cootie Williams, Louis Bacon, Ermit V. Perry, Frank “Fat Man” Humphries (tp) Ed Burke, Bob Horton (tb) prob. Jonas Walker (tb) Charles Holmes (as) Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson (as,vcl) Sam “The Man” Taylor, Lee Pope (ts) Greely Walton (bar) Fletcher Smith (p) Norman Keenan (b) George “Butch” Ballard (d) Laurel Watson (vcl) Douglas Brothers (tap dancing-1) Lindy Hoppers (dancing-2) [ Leon James (dancing-2) & Dottie Mae Johnson (dancing-2) , Russell Williams (dancing-2) & Connie Hill (dancing-2) ]

The band is playing:

• Let’s keep on jumping/Get hep
• unidentified tune (1)
• Giddap mule
• Let’s keep on jumping (2)

Enjoy!

Count Basie in Zurich 1959

As in 1956, the Count Basie Orchestra also visited Switzerland in 1959. The concert they gave at the Kongresshaus in Zurich on February 6 was filmed – probably for the swiss television company. In Otto Flückiger’s archives I found a VHS tape with the TV broadcast from the Kongresshaus. Since I noticed that “The Midget” from this concert already can be found on youtube, I decided to offer you something else. So here you have the opening part of the TV broadcast. The orchestra starts with Basie Boogie, and after that they play Neal Hefti’s Lil’ Darlin’.  The latter is especially remarkable because it offers the rare opportunity to hear as well as see a solo by  Wendell Culley (1906–1983), as Basie usually gave most of the trumpet solos to Joe Newman or Thad Jones.

The personnel on this date: Wendell Culley, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Joe Newman (tp); Henry Coker, Al Grey, Benny Powell (tb); Marshal Royal (as,cl); Frank Wess (as,ts,fl); Frank Foster, Billy Mitchell (ts); Charlie Fowlkes (bar); Count Basie (p, ldr); Freddie Green (g); Eddie Jones (b); Sonny Payne (dr).

Enjoy!

Sun Ra in Spain 1985

As you may have realized, this blog is mostly dealing with jazz from all periods. And of course nothing is a better bridge from the ancient times to the future than the music of Sun Ra, the cosmic messenger. When I started to listen to jazz in the mid 1980s, I was mostly fascinated by the free music of the 1960s. And it was Sun Ra that showed me how to proceed back in time in my listening pleasures. I witnessed Sun Ra leading the Arkestra five or six times from 1987 to 1990. And it was my love for Sun Ra’s music that was responsible for me and the swiss jazz researcher and collector Otto Flückiger becoming friends. I go to know Otto when I visited the Sun Ra exhibition at the Jazz Museum in Arlesheim that he had curated in the early 1990s (Otto had also written the first Sun Ra discography back in 1962!).

While going through my old VHS cassettes, I found a TV broadcast from the end of July 1985 when the Arkestra was playing in Spain at the Jazzaldia Festival in Donostia-San Sebastián (Basque Country), which I am presenting here in two parts. In part 1 Sun Ra and his Arkestra play Discipline 27-II, I’ll Wait For You, an unidentified Blues, Yeah Man!, Prelude To A Kiss, Mack The Knife

You will see and hear Sun Ra (p, syn, voc); Ronnie Brown (tp); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, voc); Ronald Wilson (picc, ts); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, perc); Eloe Omoe (as, bcl, cacl, perc); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Ancient Egyptian Infinity Drum); Bruce Edwards (eg); Rollo Radford (double eb); Tommy “Bugs” Hunter (dr); Avreeayl Amen Ra (dr); unidentified (perc); June Tyson (voc) and an unidentified dancer.

Part 2 consists of Love In Outer Space and The Shadow World.

Blog follower Agustín Pérez was so nice as to send me the poster for the Jazzaldia 1985 festival as well as a review of  Sun Ra’s appearance. Thank you very much, Agustín!

And here is the review (pdf): ABC-1985.07.20

Enjoy!