My last weeks have been very unjazzy, so that is why not much happened on this here blog. And the stress will not let up for a while ..
But here for your entertainment comes part 3of the 120 minute private video of a concert Wild Bill Davis gave at the Hotel Schützen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland on (probably) April 13 1986. The other members of Davis’ quartet were saxophonist Jimmy Tyler, the legendary Dickie Thompson on guitar and drummer Clyde Lucas.
I still do not know who filmed this footage. If someone who was involved in the making of this video reads this, I would like to hear from you so I can give proper credit.
So here you get – after some talking – the Wild Bill Davis Quartet playing Nat Adderley’s Jive Samba followed by Wild Bill Davis’ Stolen Sweets.
There will be more to come from this concert – if nobody objects.
Welcome to the second installment of the loose series featuring some of the jazz and r’n'b tenor saxophonists that played in the clubs of Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s.
Although when talking about tenor saxophonists from Chicago one usually thinks of the Lester Young school of playing, relaxed, cool and way behind the beat, this town definitely had more to offer.
Eddie Johnson featured with the Jo Pernell Combo. Chicago Defender, August 2, 1952.
From Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”.
The late Eddie Johnson (1920–2010) for example cited Lester Young as his greatest influence, yet that is not too obvious if you listen to his records. You can read all about Eddie Johnson at the page dedicated to him at at the Red Saunders Research Foundation by the way. After playing in lesser known bands for a while, Johnson joined Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five in early 1947, staying until the end of the year. In 1951 and 1952 he recorded some sides for Chess Records, before the label began to concentrate on Blues. In 1958 Johnson recorded as a sideman in a large James Moody group, and in 1964 he replaced Paul Gonsalves in the Duke Ellington Orchestra from time to time, when Gonsaves had problems related to substance abuse. After his last session for Chess in 1952, it took almost thirty years before Johnson recorded under his name again – for Chicago based Nessa Records. (he also recorded under his own name for Delmark in 1999).
But here’s Eddie in his younger days. “Twin Rock”, played by Johnson (ts), Claude Jones (p), Johnny Pate (b) and Oliver Coleman (d), was recorded for Chess at the Universal Studios in Chicago on September 12 1952. Billboard had this to say: “Instrumental is carried nicely by Johnson’s sax. It’s pleasant enough and could get some juke action”. So judge for yourself:
The next track I am offering you is special for different reasons. Eugene “Gene” Wright, later bassist with Dave Brubeck’s Quartet, had a nice band called Eugene Wright and his Dukes of Swing for a while in the 1940s. Red Holloway played with the Dukes of Swing as did Yuseef Lateef (at that time still known as Bill Evans). Neither Holloway nor Lateef were on the session from which I am offering you a piece here. But the band’s arranger and pianist who is playing on “Music Goes Round And Round” is none other than Sonny Blount – later known as Sun Ra! Another interesting figure also on this session is trumpeter Hobart Dotson – who later recorded with Sun Ra and with Charlie Mingus (somebody should definitely do an english language Wikipedia entry for Dotson!)
From Chicago Defender, December 18, 1948. Wonder who is who?
But what about the tenor saxophonist we can hear here? His name is Melvin Scott. That you may never had heard of him before may well be based on the fact that this seems to be his only recorded session. On the Willie Jones page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation, you can find some photos featuring Scott.
“Music Goes Round And Round” was recorded in December 1948 for Aristocrat Records, the forerunner of Chess Records. Billboard wrote: “A jump version of the Riley-Farley japery. It’s old enough – and the times are musically out of joint enough – to come back. Who knows?”
Melvin Scott only has a few bars here before baritonist Van Kelly takes over, but these bars sure are hot:
Part 3 of the second installment comes from a favourite of mine, the unjustly forgotten tenor player John Neely (1930–1994):
John Neely (right) with Lionel Hamton, at Kunsthaus Luzern,
March 1, 1961. From concert review in “Luzerner Neue Nachrichten”
Neely’s fluid, light hearted and relaxed phrasing is more typical of the style saxophonists from Chicago are known for. You can hear that well on Count Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump” as recorded by the band of pianist King Fleming around March 1954. You’ll hear John Neely, King Fleming, bassist Russell Williams and drummer Aubrie Jones. The singing is possibly by the band members except for the female voice who probably is Lorez Alexandria or Ethel Duncan. You can find more information about this session on the King Fleming page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation where there also some photos of John Neely:
There are very few solos known by Neely – and all are great. My friend, the late jazz researcher Otto Flückiger heard Neely when Neely was in Lionel Hampton’s orchestra during its 1961 European tour – and loved his playing right away. It took 36 years before Otto was to hear another John Neely solo again – King Fleming had told Robert Campbell that it was John Neely playing those wonderful lines on Fleming’s Blue Lake outing.
I love this record so much that I had to acquire the red wax 45rpm when it turned up for sale:
From the Crown Propeller Collection
But although it looks gorgeous, the 78rpm sounds much better, so I put that one up.
Someday – I hope soon – I will do a posting on Neely, presenting you two solos with the Hampton band which Mario Schneeberger and me recently discovered to be by Neely.And of course watch this space for further installments of the Chicago Tenor Sax series (go here to read and hear the first part)!
Sleeve for souvenir photographs from the Crown Propeller Lounge.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg Family
The Crown Propeller Lounge – after which this blog is named – was one of Chicago’s most important venues for R’n'B and Jazz during the 1950s. The town’s larger talent appeared here as well as every other R’n'B star coming through town (and a lot of jazzers): Tiny Davis, Wynonie Harris, The Moonglows, Stomp Gordon, Jo Jo Adams, Big Maybelle, Ray Charles, The Flamingos, Andy Tibbs, Danny Overbea, Nellie Lutcher, Valaida Snow, Amos Milburn, Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra, Big Joe Turner, Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Rushing, Al Hibbler, T-Bone Walker, Dizzy Gillespie, Arthur Prysock, Bill Doggett, The Orioles, Illinois Jacquet … A program quite to my liking, I must say, so that’s why this blog is named Crown Propeller’s blog.
Some weeks ago I was contacted by a lady, who is married to the grandson of Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg and Norman Schlossberg, who used to own the Crown Propeller Lounge. The lady asked me, if I had any material she might use for making a birthday collage for Mitzi who turned 97 (!) in January. I could help her just a little, since (other then say for the equally famous Club DeLisa) photographs and memorabilia from the Crown Propeller are rather rare.
One of only two known photographs showing the Crown Propeller Lounge from outside (the other one is here). Judging from the cars in the picture, this photo was taken after the closing of the Lounge in 1959 (photo taken from Sandor Demlinger’s and John Steiner’s beautiful book “Destination Chicago Jazz”). To the right of the Crown Propeller one can see the entrance to Crown Liquors, another business owned by the Schlossbergs.
I asked her to be on the lookout for memorabilia from the Crown Propeller when she was going to her husband’s grandmother’s house and she promised to do so. Then some weeks later I could not believe my eyes when I got a mail from that lady containing some gorgeous photos, which I am presenting you here, courtesy of the Schlossberg Family. I have added some music typical of the Crown Propeller’s programming to go along with it as well as some advertisements featuring the people in the photographs.
(Click to enlarge) Norman Schlossberg (2nd from left), Mitzi Schlossberg
(center) and unidentified others at the Crown Propeller, possibly
late 1940s. Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
The – undated – photo above was contained in the beautiful souvenir cover seen at the top of this post. It is possible that this photograph was taken in the 1940s when the Crown Propeller ran a musical policy that was different from what the lounge later became known for.
Usually the time span for the Crown Propeller’s existence is given as 1951–1959. This seems to be based on an ad from Chicago Defender of August 4, 1951 announcing the opening of the Crown Propeller (strangely enough regarding the newspaper’s date) on August 3rd with singer Ethel Duncan and violinist Leon Abbey’s trio.
From Chicago Defender, August 4, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
But the Crown Propeller Lounge had existed before that. The earliest mention I could find is in Billboard of November 14, 1942, where Everett Hull and Victory Boys are announced to appear at the Crown Propeller for four weeks. Billboard of December 19, 1942 mentions Don Jacks as returning to the Crown Propeller on January 12. Other acts mentioned in Billboard as playing at the Crown Propeller are in 1942 trumpeter Johnny Gibbs with singer Dolores Janis (December ), and in 1943 The Victory Four (Everett Mull, Leon Shash, George Mitchell, George Michaels), Don Jacks (March 20: “picked up another four month holdover at the Crown Propeller”).
From the Billboard Yearbook 1943
The Billboard Yearbook 1944 mentions Don Jacks as having had a two-and-a-half-year engagement at the Crown Propeller, so the Crown Propeller may already have existed in 1941.
There are no mentions for the Crown Propeller in Billboard’s regular issues of 1944 and 1945. The issue of December 14, 1946 mentions Little Sans and Lee Trio at the Crown Propeller, in Billboard of January 15, 1947 the same aggregation is mentioned as having extended four weeks at the CP.
I do not know if the changing of musical policy at the CP came with a changing of venues or if it always had been on 868 East 63rd. From the mentions in Billboard during the fourties I can only gather that it had always been on the South Side of Chicago. Anyway after the (re-)opening on August 3rd, 1951, the Crown Propeller was never looking back to the days of accordeon-and-fiddle bands again.
R’n'B and Jazz – the Crown Propeller takes a new direction.
From Chicago Defender, August 11, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
The next photo the lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson send me is also undated. It shows The 4 Tunes (also known as The Four Tunes), a very famous vocal group in the early 1950s about which you can find a lot of information in Marv Goldberg’s article.
(Click to enlarge) The 4 Tunes (left) and some fans at the Crown Propeller,
date unknown. Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
I can find no reference for a 4 Tunes appearnce at the Crown Propeller, so the photo has to remain undated by now.
One of The 4 Tunes’ greates hits was “Marie”, recorded for Jubilee in 1953. It’s one of my favourite uptempo R’n'B vocal group pieces when I am appearing as DJ Crown Propeller at the Klub Helsinki. Here is a nice clip from youtube user ilbmlb51 showing the original 78 rpm playing:
The next photo that the lady send me is really fantastic:
(Click to enlarge) Joe Louis, Norman Schlossberg, Sarah Vaughn, King Kolax and
unidentified others at the Crown Propeller, exact date unknown.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
Second person from left is boxer Joe Louis, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949. Behind him is CP owner Norman Schlossberg and the man front right is local trumpeter and bandleader King Kolax (1912–1991) who is known to the wider jazz world for employing John Coltrane for a while in the late 1940s. There is a lot more to know about Kolax though, and you can find it all on the King Kolax page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. The woman in the middle is Sarah Vaughn (see comments section) and the one on the right also looks familiar to me, she might be a singer or some other celebrity.There are several possibillities regarding the question when the photo above was taken. Judging from the known ads for the Crown Propeller, Vaughn never was part of the program there. But she was in town several times each year, mostly as part of some jazz package tour . As for King Kolax and his Orchestra: He played at the Crown Propeller in January 1952:
From Chicago Defender, January 19, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
And then again in March:
From Chicago Defender, March 22, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
In May 1952 Kolax was also at the Crown Propller, when Sax Mallard (about whom more later) was also on the bill.
From Chicago Defender, May 31, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, June 14, 1952.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Then Kolax’ band was acting as house band from mid 1954 to January 1955. One of the CP’s main attraction at that time was still the “Aqua-Tease” of sea nymph Atlantis with whom the Croen Propeller had started in 1951. In 1954 Kolax joined Atlantis in the 500 gallon tank for a photo published in Jet magazine in September.
Jet, September 16, 1954.
From Chicago Defender, November 13, 1954.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Probably his success at the Crown Propeller lead King Kolax to record for Vee Jay in December 1954 (and later in Sepetember 1955). Parts of these sessions are said to having been arranged by Sonny Blount, later known throughout the cosmos as intergalactic band leader Sun Ra. “Vivian” from December 1954 is one of the tracks of which some people – including me – think they might be a Ra arrangement. The band consists of Kolax (tp), Harold Ousley (ts), Prentice McCarey (p), “Cowboy” Martin (b), and Leon Hooper (d, perc).
In October 1956 King Kolax returned to the Crown Propeller for two weeks (Della Reese was followed by Louis Jordan and then by Charles Brown who brought their own bands):
From Chicago Defender, October 20, 1956.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
Kolax was also engaged by the Crown Propeller in February 1957, but it is not clear how long this gig lasted.
The next photo the lady send me send me shows another local Chicago legend: Saxophonist Oett “Sax” Mallard (1915–1986). This photo also could have been taken on different dates.
(Click to enlarge) Mitzi Schlossberg and Oett “Sax” Mallard
(with retouched glasses) at the Crown Propeller, exact date unknown.
Courtesy of the Schlossberg family
Sax Mallard, about whom you can find a lot more information on the Sax Mallard page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation, made his name recording blues with people like Roosevelt Sykes, Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy in sessions for RCA-Victor in the 1940s. For a while in 1943 Mallard substituted for Otto Hardwick in Duke Ellington’s orchestra. Starting in 1947 for Aristocrat Mallard had the chance to record some tracks under his own name.
Here is a video of a copy of Checker 750 from my collection. “Slow Caboose”, a typical tenor sax fuelled piece of jukebox fodder, was recorded in January 1951 with Sax Mallard (ts) an unidentified trumpeter, probably Jimmy Bowman piano; probably Ernest “Big” Crawford on bass and Osie Johnson drums (Johnson also does some dramatic baritone singing on another side from this session). This one is so echo-filled that you might imagine yourself being in deep in dub land.
Mallard’s band was the Crown Propeller’s house band at different times, starting with some months in 1951 and 1952.
From Chicago Defender, September 1, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, September 29, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, November 24, 1951.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
During the early fifties Sax Mallard backed quite a few singers and r’n'b vocal groups on records.
In March 1953 he went to Chicago’s Universal Recording studios where his group was backing Mitzi Mars in a session for Checker Records:
From the Crown Propeller Collection.
One of Mitzi Mars’ tunes with Sax Mallard’s band backing her – “Roll ‘Em” – was uploaded on youtube by youtube user Rosenda Moore:
From November 1953 to summer 1954, Mallard’s Combo was the Crown Propeller’s house band again. During this time the Crown Propeller’s main attractions were people like Jimmy Witherspoon, Billy Brooks, Scatman Crothers, Lowell Fulson, Ray Charles, Big Maybelle, Wynonie Harris, Amos Milburn and Valaida Snow.
From Chicago Defender, November 29, 1953.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
From Chicago Defender, January 9, 1954.
Taken from Franz Hoffmann’s “Jazz Advertised”
.
Sax Mallard’s last appearances at the CP took place in August 1957 (two weeks) and again from December 1957 on (length of engagement unknown) At that time the Crown Propeller was already in decline. The club closed in 1959 and by early 1960 the Schlossbergs had moved to Florida.
Finally the lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson send me another nice photo of Mildred “Mitzi” Schlossberg. Obviously this was taken in a year where January 17th was a tuesday which points to 1950 or 1956. Neither an “Amateur Night” nor a “Crazy Auction” is mentioned in the Crown Propeller ads for 1956. So I would say 1950.
(Click to enlarge) Mitzi Schlossberg and probably not Cary Grant at the
Crown Propeller Lounge, probably 1950. Courtesy of the Schlossberg Family.
Again I have to thank the Schlossberg Family for these beautiful photographs that allow a rare glimpse inside the Crown Propeller. The lady married to the Schlossberg’s grandson has promised to look if she can find anymore memorabilia of the Crown Propeller Lounge. If she does, I will keep you all informed.
From 1978 to 1981 my friend, jazz researcher Otto Flückiger (1930–2006), went to the USA each year for up to three weeks to check out the jazz scene. Most of these trips led him to New York City where he checked out every jazz related event he could manage to visit – from gatherings of old swing veterans to extreme improvised loft sessions, documenting it all with a tape recorder and taking photos at every gig.
On Saturday, October 13th, 1979, Otto spent the evening at the Boltax Theatre in Soho, where drummer Rashied Ali’s Quintet presented modal jazz, very much influenced by – of course – John Coltrane.
Cover of the MC on which Otto recorded parts of the Rashied Ali concert.
The band consisted of Arthur Rhames – misspelled by Otto – (ss, ts), Melvin Holder (ts), Tommy Smith (p), Radu (b) and of Rashied Ali (dr). Otto recorded some eighty minutes on that evening, but most of it is marred by talking and other background noise. But there is a piece which is a little bit more listenable, so I thought I could present it here. The name of the slow burning tune the band is playing here is unknown (at least to me):
As always, Otto took a handful of photographs (remember, the material was expensive then):
Rashied Ali at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Tommy Smith, Melvin Holder, Rashied Ali and Arthur Rhames at the Boltax,
N.Y.C, October 13, 1979. Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Arthur Rhames at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Melvin Holder at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Seeing the tape recorders besides pianist Tommy Smith on the next photos, I wonder if one of them was Otto’s. I guess probably not, because it would not have picked up so much talk most of the time. Maybe the band members were also documenting it?
Tommy Smith at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Rashied Ali at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
On the above photo you will notice the neon letters “SRO”. Does anyone know what these letters stand for? It looks like “SRO” was a regular act at the Boltax. The “After Dark” section of “New York” magazine’s October 8 issue mentions “S*R*O” as “back again”. Strangely Rashied Ali’s appearance is not mentioned here;
And to close our visit at the Boltax up, here is a photo of bassist Radu:
Radu at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)
Look forward for more documents from Otto’s travels at this place in the near future!
As promised in this post, I am putting up more footage from the 120 minute private video of a concert Wild Bill Davis gave at the Hotel Schützen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland on (probably) April 13 1986. The other members of Davis’ quartet were saxophonist Jimmy Tyler, the legendary Dickie Thompson on guitar and drummer Clyde Lucas.
I still do not know who filmed this footage. If someone who was involved in the making of this video reads this, I would like to hear from you so I can give proper credit.
So here you get the Wild Bill Davis Quartet playing Stardust followed by Ray Bryant’s Cubano Chant. Then a little April in Paris coda à la mode de Basie concludes this (the first?) set.
There will be more from this concert – if nobody objects.
Up to the late 1950s you could usually tell where a tenor saxophone player may come from geographically. This goes especially for tenorists from Chicago, where the dominant way of playing was very relaxed and way behind the beat. The most famous exponent of this school who was also widely known outside of Chicago was of course Gene Ammons. But in the 1940s and 1950s this town had a whole lot of great or at least very interesting tenor saxophonists – some of which are well known, some more or less obscure. Not all of them are members of the Lester Young school though: Von Freeman, Dick Davis, Sax Mallard, Claude McLin, Eddie Johnson, John Neely, Johnny Griffin, Clifford Jordan, Tom Archia – and the list goes on.
If I start to listen to tenor players from Chicago,I might end up doing so for days. So I decided to let my readers in on the fun and present in a loose series some of the best jazz and r’n'b tenor saxophonists that played in the clubs of the Windy City in the 1940s and 1950s. I will try to use original 78 rpms for this purpose, but this probably will not work in very case, as there are some things of which I only have bad tape copies or the like.
The first installment of this series has to start of with Gene Ammons, of course. ”Hey Mr. Freddy”on Aristocrat 8001 was recorded in February 1949 by group that included Ammons, singer and pianist Christine Chatman, Leo Blevins on guitar, bassist Lowell pointer and legendary drummer Ike Day. It was for the first time reissued in 2003 on a CD by the french company Classics, all the previous compilers of Ammon’s output for Aristocrat/Chess had overlooked this track.
Not really from Chicago, but from close enough Gary Indiana comes John “Schoolboy” Porter (born in 1926). Porter recorded for Chicago based Chance Records from 1950 to 1952. Then he appeared – as guitarist! – on a Roosevelt Sykes session for United, also in 1952. After that he opted for a career in the military. Porter has an interesting sound, most of his records pair jukebox groovers with sentimental ballads as was usual during these days. “Kayron”, recorded in 1950, was a fine piece of bop from Chicago with – I think – a really great solo by Schoolboy (search for it on youtube, someone has put it up). On the shuffling “Schoolboy’s Boogie” which was recorded in September 1950, Porter is accompanied by pianist Jesse Hart (who also sang, but not on this track), bassist Walter Broyle and drummer Carl Scott.
If you want to know more about John “Schoolboy” Porter, you should check the Chance Records page at the Red Saunders Research Foundation. On the other hand if you know anything about what Porter is doing nowadays, it would be nice if you would let me know.
Now for today’s third featured Chicago tenor man. After having recorded with Earl Hines in the mid 1930s saxophonist Leon Washington joined drummer Red Saunders’ house band at Chicago’s famed Club De Lisa in 1937, staying with Red until the late 1950s.
Smiling Ladies at the Club DeLisa, unknown date.
From the Crown Propeller Archive (click to enlarge)
Leon Washington isa totally overlooked saxophonist. Red Saunder’s band is mostly interesting not for Washington’s solos but for the fact that Sun Ra wrote arrangements for it. Understandably so, since the Saunders orchestra was essentially a show band and Leon rarely had an opportunity to shine. Elaborate boppish playing was not asked for in between singer’s verses.
In 1954 and 1955 Washington and McKinley Easton, Saunders’ baritone man, did some work for the very small Theron label. You can read all about Theron on the Theron page of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. On “Forward Blow” which was recorded in 1954, Easton and Washington show what they could do if let loose
Watch this space for further installments of this series!
UPDATE: I have entered the correct date and added Lou Rawls’ name, thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakht and Ruth Gilson!
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It is usually said that Duke Ellington was a synaesthete – in his case a person being able to hear colors (and see music as colors).
Among Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes I recently found a six minute clip of Duke and his orchestra performing in a surrounding that must hurt people of that ability. This comes from a Lou Rawls Show directed by Jörn Winther and produced in Canada in 1971 (Thanks, Ehsan!)
It seems like the only way for Duke to protect his inner ear from the screaming colors of the studio furniture and walls was to fight them by wearing a bright orange-red jacket with a lilac shirt!
Duke and the band (unfortunately one does not see much of the orchestra) play “Satin Doll”, afer that Duke is joined by singer Lou Rawls (thanks again, Ehsan!)– doing “Sophisticated Lady”.
Almost a year ago I discovered some nice footage of Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz in 1978 playing “I Can’t Get Started”. coming from the series “La Grande Parade du Jazz” concerts in Nice, filmed for french TV. I thought I could put up the rest of the footage as well. So here you have Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet; Barney Wilen, Stan Getz, tenor sax; Andy Laverne, piano; Rodney Jones, guitar; Mike Richmond, acoustic double bass; Mickey Roker, Billy Hart, drums, percussion at the Grand Parade du Jazz, Nice, July 14, 1978. playing “Night In Tunisia” – which is soon interrupted by heavy rain.
On the second segment (Improvisation/Ceciliana) Dizzy is accompanied by Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, J.C. Heard.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: (February 27, 2013): Blue Note is now offering the audio of the whole concert (for free) here.
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Donald Byrd in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 5, 1973
Unfortunately it is true. Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd passed on February 4, 2013. I would like to pay tribute to the man and his music, so I just uploaded nearly half an hour of video from the archives, showing the Donald Byrd/Nathan Davis group at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 5, 1973. I am not too well versed in Byrd’s repertoire of that time, so if anyone knows what is played here, it would be nice if you could tell me. According to Tom Lord’s Jazz Discography, the concert was recorded by Blue Note – but never issued. Lord gives the following titles: “Poco-mania”, “You’ve got it bad, girl”, “Untitled no. 3″, “Black Byrd” and “Flight time”. So maybe someone knows how this fits together. I chopped the video into three parts. The video was partly not in synch and this made it easier for me to bring it into synch again.
You will be hearing and seeing: Donald Byrd (tp,flhrn) Fonce Mizell (tp) Allan Barnes (fl,ts) Nathan Davis (sop,ts) Larry Mizell (synt) Kevin Toney (el-p) Barney Perry (el-g) Henry Franklin (el-b) Keith Killgo (d,vcl) Ray Armando (cga,perc)
In part 2 the band is playing “Black Byrd” (thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakt for identifying the title)
Oh, how I love to get some authentic live hard bop! Even better if this happens on a tuesday, the day of the week on which I spent almost twelve hours in the office usually coming home tired and beaten. But last tuesday was different, as Jazzclub Moods, which is just around the corner from my office, presented a concert with legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller (born 1934) and his sextet. Fuller is of course mostly known for his work on several sessions with John Coltrane (e.g. “Blue Train”) and for his work in the Curtis Fuller / Benny Golson Jazztet. I think that Fullers 1950s and early 1960 sessions for Blue Note and Savoy belong to the best hard bop sessions of their time.
Besides Fuller the band consisted of young(er) men. The other horns were german tenor saxophonist Ralph Reichert and trumpeter Joshua Bruneau from Vermont. Read more »
