This Day in Jazz History: January 2011

JANUARY 31

FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA

ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM

Recording Dates:

January 30, 1967 tk 2-4, 9

January 31, 1967 tk 1, 5, 6

February 1, 1967 tk 8, 10

               Personnel:
                   Antonio Carlos Jobim G,P,VO
                   Billy May                    TP
                   Dom Um Romão          D
                 Frank Sinatra              VO
                 Al Viola                       G

LINK Retired

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
By 1967, bossa nova had become quite popular within jazz and traditional pop audiences, yet Frank Sinatra hadn't attempted any Brazil-influenced material. Sinatra decided to record a full-fledged bossa nova album with the genre's leading composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Arranged by Claus Ogerman and featuring Jobim on guitar and backing vocals, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim concentrated on Jobim's originals, adding three American classics — "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "Change Partners," and "I Concentrate on You" — that were rearranged to suit bossa nova conventions. The result was a subdued, quiet album that used the Latin rhythms as a foundation, not as a focal point. Supported by a relaxed, sympathetic arrangement of muted brass, simmering percussion, soft strings, and Jobim's lilting guitar, Sinatra turns in an especially noteworthy performance; he has never sounded so subtle, underplaying every line he delivers and showcasing vocal techniques that he never had displayed before. Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim doesn't reveal its pleasures immediately; the album is too textured and understated to be fully appreciated within one listen. After a few plays, the album begins to slowly work its way underneath a listener's skin, and it emerges as one of his most rewarding albums of the '60s.

JANUARY 30

                         BEN WEBSTER
                   Stormy Weather

                      Recording Date
                         January 30, 1965

                      Personnel:
                         Kenny Drew                  P
                         Niels-Henning Pedersen B
                          Alex Riel                       D
                        Ben Webster               TS

                    LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
Recorded around a month after the veteran tenor Ben Webster moved to Europe, this high-quality set with pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Neils Pederson and drummer Alex Riel features Webster stretching out on the traditional "Londonderry Air," two originals and seven familiar but fresh standards. Webster, although neglected in the U.S., was still in peak form in the mid-'60s as witness this and his other Black Lion CDs covering the period.

JANUARY 29

ESQUIVEL

Four Corners of the World

Recording Date:
January 29-30, 1958

Personnel:

View here

LINK Retired

Review by Tony Wilds

Four Corners of the World brings us back to Earth after the out there experimentation of Other Sounds, Other Worlds. Most listeners will be disappointed to discover that Four Corners is the least characteristic of Esquivel's zaniness. His arranging skills are demonstrated in purest form, as the album is the artist playing piano with relatively spare backing. But as with Martin Denny and exotica, this effort really is not likely to please those hoping for "new sounds in stereo." Certainly there are greater piano players and albums. Note that the version of "Cielito Lindo" here is not the same as released on the 45 rpm single.

JANUARY 28

                           ESQUIVEL
          Other Worlds,Other Sounds

                     Recording Dates:
                          January 27-29, 1958

                     Personnel:
                           See list here



                           LINK Retired

Review by Tony Wilds

Other Worlds Other Sounds may be the best known Esquivel album because of its sensational jacket art portraying a red-caped woman prancing across a green planetary landscape. Its real significance is as the moment where Esquivel takes control of his production and develops his signature sound. The chorus (the Randy Van Horne Singers) begins the "zu zu zu" nonsense beloved by Esquivel fans, and the playfulness with stereophonic separation begins here. But the material is not his best. "Ballerina" and "Night and Day" are cheesy, while most of the album seem like slow song outtakes from To Love Again. It is a different mood, one that never really hits its stride until the closing track: the astounding arrangement of "It Had to Be You." This is the promise of the future.

JANUARY 27

                 CANNOBALL ADDERLEY
                          BILL EVANS
                    Know What I Mean

                       Recording Dates:
                           January 27 - March 13, 1961

                       Personnel:
                            Cannonball Adderley AS
                           Bill Evans                  P
                          Percy Heath              B
                            Connie Kay               D

                      LINK Retired

Reviewby Rick Anderson

What's better than a Bill Evans Trio album? How about a Bill Evans trio album on which the bassist is Percy Heath, the drummer is Connie Kay, and the leader is not Evans but alto sax god Cannonball Adderley, making the group actually a quartet? It's a different sort of ensemble, to be sure, and the musical results are marvelous. Adderley's playing on "Waltz for Debby" is both muscular and sensitive, as it is on the other Evans composition here, a modal ballad called "Know What I Mean?" Other treats include the sprightly "Toy" and two takes of the Gershwin classic "Who Cares?" The focus here is, of course, on Adderley's excellent post-bop stylings, but it's also interesting to hear Evans playing with a rhythm section as staid and conservative as Kay and Heath (both charter members of the Modern Jazz Quartet). It's hard to imagine any fan of mainstream jazz not finding much to love on this very fine recording.

JANUARY 26

                    JIMMY SMITH
                   Angel Eyes

                  Recording Date
                      January 25-26, 1995

               Personnel:
                        Roy Hargrove           TP, FLH
                        Gregory Hutchinson   D
                        Damon Krukowski      Per, D
                        Christian McBride      B
                        Nicholas Payton        TP
                       Jimmy Smith             O
                        Mark Whitfield          G

                 LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
A follow-up to the mostly heated performances of Damn!, this CD features organist Jimmy Smith sticking to ballads and slower material. There is a sextet rendition of "Stolen Moments" (with both Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton on trumpets); duets with both trumpeters, bassist Christian McBride, and guitarist Mark Whitfield; a trio; a quartet; and solo organ renditions of "Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?" and "What a Wonderful World." Despite the constant changing of instrumentation, the results (although pleasant) are uneventful and somewhat predictable. Good for late-night background music rather than for close listening.

JANUARY 25

          ALEX SIPIAGIN
           Generations

            Recording Date:
               January 25, 2010

            Personnel:
              Alex Sipiagin     TP, FLH
              Adam Rogers     G
             Boris Kozlov      B
            Antonio Sanchez D

            LINK Retired

Review by Michael G. Nastos

Russian-born trumpeter Alex Sipiagin's tenth recording as a leader apart from his chores with the Mingus Big Band gives homage to his first and greatest influence, Woody Shaw. On this split program of originals and selections from Shaw's repertoire, Sipiagin plays a more basic brass horn than did his highly advanced, harmonically futuristic idol, but there's an added wrinkle to this program that Shaw never really explored. Electric guitarist Adam Rogers is along for the ride, drastically morphing these tunes to a fusion style that Shaw only touched upon -- refer to the early-'70s album Blackstone Legacy. In sparser frameworks, Sipiagin and this piano-less quartet bring new meaning to Shaw's influential music, which has stood the test of time for some four decades. Where "Obsequious" was in its initial form a scorching hard bop number via its composer, organist Larry Young, here it's parsed and slowed, demanding that you listen closely to hear the original melody. Most faithful to the original versions are the lovely "Katrina Ballerina" and "Cassandranite," while "Blues for Wood" is led out by bassist Boris Koslov before heading into a fresh-sounding, choppy refrain. Of the newer works by the leader, the two-part "Greenwood" bookends the date in a more modal context, with the sneaky guitar style that Rogers has by now perfected. Drummer Antonio Sanchez keeps the pace light but lively throughout, while fellow Mingus Big Band member Koslov is brilliant no matter the tempo or rhythmic role he plays. As a tandem, Sipiagin and Rogers have hit upon something unique, blurring the cloudy lines of Shaw's music in a way that he might have were he alive today. Where most tribute projects imitate far too frequently, Generations is one that actually expands on the virtues of its intended icon.

JANUARY 24

           STANLEY TURRENTINE
                  Hustlin'

               Recording Date:
                     January 24, 1964

                Personnel:
                     Kenny Burrell         G
                     Bob Cranshaw      B
                     Otis Finch              D
                     Shirley Scott          O
                     Stanley Turrentine TS


                 LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
This is a typically excellent recording from the husband-wife team of tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and organist Shirley Scott. With assistance from guitarist Kenny Burrell, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Otis Finch, Turrentine (who always had the skill of playing melodies fairly straight but with his own brand of soul) and Scott dig into "Love Letters," Lloyd Price's "Trouble," "Something Happens to Me," a couple of basic originals, and "Goin' Home." The Turrentine-Scott team never made an unworthy disc; all are easily recommended, including this one.

JANUARY 22-23

RAY BROWN

All-Star Big Band

Recording Date:

January 22, 1963 tk 3,7,9

January 23, 1963 tk 1-2,4-6,8

Personnel:

Nat Adderley, Joe Newman,

Ernie Royal, Clark Terry TP

Cannonball Adderley AS
Earl Warren AS

Budd Johnson, Seldon Powell TS

Yusef Lateef TS,FL

Jerome Richardson VB

Hank Jones P

Ray Brown CE

                Sam Jones                             B
                Osie Davis                              D
                 Jimmy Cleveland                     TB
                 Paul Faulise                            TB
                 Melba Liston                           TB
                Britt Woodman                       TB

               LINK Retired

This album teams two of the most talented and most popular jazz musicians in modern music. Cannonball Adderley is an artist of fire and startling rhythmic excitement. He is a player who has captured the imagination bf modern jazz fans. Ray Brown is the backbone of the Oscar Peterson Trio; a bass soloist and rhythm player of indisputable talent energy and creative ability. On this album, Brown not only shows his talent on his major instrument, the bass, but on cello as well. He plays cello on My One And Only Love, the title tune Two For The Blues and Baubles, Bangles And Beads. On these tunes, Hank Jones plays bass behind Ray's cello.

A standout session from bassist Ray Brown -- one of a few 60s big band sessions recorded for Verve, featuring some searing solo work from Cannonball Adderley! Brown's name as a leader is possibly more as a compadre than the main driving force of the record -- as the arrangements here are by Ernie Wilkins, often in the tightly soulful bag he was laying down at the time -- and Adderley's presence as the main soloist certainly gives a Cannonball flair to the record. But there's definitely plenty of Brown's warmth guiding the whole session -- and other players include Nat Adderley, Clark Terry, Melba Liston, Budd Johnson, and Yusef Lateef. Some tracks have Brown's bass right out front in the arrangements, dipping nicely and adding into the groove -- and titles include "Tricotism", "Cannon Built", "Thumbstring", "Two For The Blues", and "Work Song".

JANUARY 20

CHARLES MINGUS

               The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady

                     Recording Date:
                          January 20, 1963

                     Personnel:
                          Jay Berliner          G
                          Don Butterfield     TU
                          Jaki Byard             P
                          Rolf Ericson           TP
                         Dick Hafer           FT, TS
                          Quentin Jackson     TB
                          Charlie Manano      AS
                          Charles Mingus       B, P
                          Jerome Richardson FT,SS, BS
                          Dannie Richmond   D
                          Richard Williams   TP

LINK Retired

Review by Steve Huey
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history. Charles Mingus consciously designed the six-part ballet as his magnum opus, and — implied in his famous inclusion of liner notes by his psychologist — it's as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle. It veers between so many emotions that it defies easy encapsulation; for that matter, it can be difficult just to assimilate in the first place. Yet the work soon reveals itself as a masterpiece of rich, multi-layered texture and swirling tonal colors, manipulated with a painter's attention to detail. There are a few stylistic reference points — Ellington, the contemporary avant-garde, several flamenco guitar breaks — but the totality is quite unlike what came before it. Mingus relies heavily on the timbral contrasts between expressively vocal-like muted brass, a rumbling mass of low voices (including tuba and baritone sax), and achingly lyrical upper woodwinds, highlighted by altoist Charlie Mariano. Within that framework, Mingus plays shifting rhythms, moaning dissonances, and multiple lines off one another in the most complex, interlaced fashion he'd ever attempted. Mingus was sometimes pigeonholed as a firebrand, but the personal exorcism of Black Saint deserves the reputation — one needn't be able to follow the story line to hear the suffering, mourning, frustration, and caged fury pouring out of the music. The 11-piece group rehearsed the original score during a Village Vanguard engagement, where Mingus allowed the players to mold the music further; in the studio, however, his exacting perfectionism made The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady the first jazz album to rely on overdubbing technology. The result is one of the high-water marks for avant-garde jazz in the '60s and arguably Mingus' most brilliant moment.

JANUARY 21

MILES DAVIS
Birth of the Cool Session

Recording Date:

January 21, 1949

Personnel:

Miles Davis TP

J.J. Johnson TB

Sandy Siegelstein FH

Bill Barber TU

Lee Konitz AS

Gerry Mulligan BS

John Lewis P

Nelson Boyd B

Kenny Clarke D

LINK Retired

3395-3E Jeru Capitol 57-60005, H 459, T 792
3396-3D Move Capitol 15404, T 792
3397-2E Godchild Capitol 57-60005, H 459, T 792
3398-1D Hallucinations (Budo) Capitol 15404, T 792

JANUARY 19

ART PEPPER

Meets the Rhythm Section

Recording Date:
January 19, 1957

                   Personnel:
                        Paul Chambers     B
                         Red Garland         P
                         Philly Joe Jones   D
                         Art Pepper          AS

LINK Retired

Review by Michael G. Nastos
By the time of this, Art Pepper's tenth recording as a leader, he was making his individual voice on the alto saxophone leave the cozy confines of his heroes Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz. Joining the Miles Davis rhythm section of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones made the transformation all that more illuminating. It's a classic east meets west, cool plus hot but never lukewarm combination that provides many bright moments for the quartet during this exceptional date from that great year in music, 1957. A bit of a flip, loosened but precise interpretation of the melody on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" gets the ball rolling, followed by a "Bags Groove" parallel with "Red Pepper Blues," and a delicate, atypical treatment of "Imagination." A compositional collaboration of Pepper and Chambers on the quick "Waltz Me Blues" and hard-edged, running-as-fast-as-he-can take of "Straight Life" really sets the gears whirring. Philly Joe Jones is a great bop drummer, no doubt, one of the all-time greats with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. His crisp Latin-to-swing pace for "Tin Tin Deo" deserves notice, masterful in its creation and seamlessness. Pepper makes a typical "Star Eyes" brighter, and he goes into a lower octave tone, more like a tenor, for "Birks Works" and the bonus track "The Man I Love." It's clear he has heard his share of Stan Getz in this era. Though Art Pepper played with many a potent trio, this one inspires him to the maximum, and certainly makes for one of his most substantive recordings after his initial incarcerations, and before his second major slip into the deep abyss of drug addiction.

JANUARY 18

CHARLIE PARKER

WCOP radio broadcast

Hi-Hat Club, Boston

Recording Date:

January 18, 1954

                      Personnel:
                           Herbie Williams     TP
                           Charlie Parker       AS
                           Rollins Griffith       P
                           Jimmy Woode        B
                        Marquis Foster       D

LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
This CD features Charlie Parker caught live in 1954 with a quintet including Herb Pomeroy, as part of an unknown group in 1950, with pianist Bud Powell, bassist Charles Mingus, drummer Art Taylor and Candido on congas on two songs from 1953 and sitting in with the Chet Baker Quartet in 1953 (although only Bird's solos from the latter were recorded). The recording quality is streaky and these leftover performances from routine gigs are recommended only for Charlie Parker completists.

JANUARY 17

CHARLIE PARKER

Swedish Schnapps Session

Recording Date:

January 17, 1951

Personnel:

Miles Davis TP

                           Charlie Parker      AS
                           Walter Bishop Jr. P
                           Teddy Kotick        B

Max Roach D

LINK Retired

489-2 Au Privave
490-3 She Rote

491-1 K.C. Blues
492-2 Star Eyes

JANUARY 16

                   AHMAD JAMAL
               At the Pershing:
                  But Not for Me

                  Recording Date:
                       January 16, 1958

                  Personnel:
                       Israel Crosby      B
                       Vernell Fornier   D
                       Ahmad Jamal     P

                   LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
Recorded at the same engagement as his best-selling But Not for Me, this outing by pianist Ahmad Jamal (with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernell Fournier) is just as successful musically, even if its sales figures were not on the same level. Jamal and his sidemen had a magical chemistry during this era, and the pianist's close attention to dynamics gave the group its own sound. Among the highlights of the 11 standards are "Too Late Now," "Cherokee," "Gone with the Wind" and a remake of "Billy Boy." A superior LP that deserves to be reissued in full on CD.

At the Pershing: But Not for Me is a 1958 jazz album by Ahmad Jamal. According to the album jacket, the tapes were made on January 16, 1958, at the Pershing Lounge of Chicago's Pershing Hotel and each set played that night was recorded, a total of 43 tracks, of which 8 were selected by Jamal for the album. The LP was released as Argo Records LP-628.

JANUARY 15

                       CHARLIE BYRD
                 At the Village Vanguard

                      Recording Date:
                          January 15, 1961

                    Personnel:
                          Keter Betts                B
                        Charlie Byrd             G
                         Buddy Deppenschmidt D

                     LINK Retired

Review by Richard S. Ginell
Shortly before departing on his epochal 1961 State Department tour of South America, the one that ignited his love affair with bossa nova — and subsequently, ours — Charlie Byrd played this trio gig at New York City's Village Vanguard. At first, "Just Squeeze Me" goes at an easygoing stroll as Byrd adheres swingingly to the beat, and "Why Was I Born" isn't terribly eventful. But then, there are definitely hints of things to come in the fluid samba-like rhythm that the trio kicks up on "You Stepped Out of a Dream." The 20-minute fantasia on the old union rouser "Which Side Are You On?" also has a Brazilian-tinged groove, and the combination of that and Byrd's low-key classical savvy keeps you as mesmerized as the quiet audience must have been. It is also significant that both of Byrd's cohorts on the date, bassist Keter Betts and drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt, would play on Byrd's historic Jazz Samba album with Stan Getz a year later. The direction is clear; Byrd was about to open the door to bossa nova, and you can hear him inching up to the starting gate here.