Last week we had a number of renditions of "Body and Soul" that predate the legendary Coleman Hawkins recording. Today our focus changes to the Hawkins recording and select interpretations by other tenor saxophonists.
First up is Hawkins' 1939 recording which became the model for most renditions that came later.
From 1956, we hear from Sonny Stitt with Jimmy Jones on piano.
From 1958, Sonny Rollins performing it as a saxophone solo for the MGM label.
John Coltrane recorded this for Atlantic Records with McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.
Finally, one of several versions by long tall Dexter Gordon.
Prior to the arrival of Charlie Parker, there were three acknowledged
masters of the alto sax, Johnny Hodges, Willie Smith, and Benny Carter.
Hodges and Smith are best known for their associations with Duke
Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford. Benny Carter had a career that went
beyond such an easy linkage. He was a member of as well as led a big
band. He also played the trumpet, was an arranger as well as being a
composer. Today is a short playlist of "King Carter" whose career
extended for many decades. We start with a 1933 recording, "Lonesome Nights."
Next up is Carter with Django Reinhardt from 1938 doing "I'm Coming Virginia."
Carter was a favorite of Norman Granz and his Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. Here he is with Coleman Hawkins performing "Blue Lou.
Here he performs a song of his that has become somewhat of a standard, "When The Lights Are Low," with the American Jazz Orchestra.
We close this brief playlist of Benny Carter's music with the Benny Carter All-Stars performing "Blues Walk" and Take the A Train."
Today's edition of Take 5 is a short playlist of Fletcher Henderson's Big Band. There are so many excellent tunes one might select, but I just want to give a brief sense of how great this band was. To delve more deeply you might want to check out "A Study in Frustration," an import CD set of the original 4 LP reissue. While Louis Armstrong's time with Fletcher Henderson was a brief one, it had a definite impact on not only the musicians in Henderson's Band and others. Here is the Fletcher Henderson Band when Armstrong was a member performing "Sugarfoot Stomp." This is an orchestral arrangement of King Oliver's "Dippermouth Blues" that King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recorded with Armstrong on second cornet." The arranger was Don Redman who also played alto sax in the band at the time. Redman would be a very influential bandleader and arranger.
Next up is a rendition of "The Stampede," which was recorded shortly after Armstrong had left Henderson. The cornetist on this is Rex Stewart who was with Henderson for several years. Stewart is best remembered for his time with Duke Ellington, starting in 1934. also in the band from the 1920s is Coleman Hawkins (he is on "Sugarfoot Stomp").
One of Henderson's most famous recordings was "New King Porter's Stomp." Rex Stewart opens up with his muted cornet with Coleman Hawkins also featured. Henderson's arrangement would reach even more ears when Benny Goodman used it.
Later, Henry 'Red' Allen' joined Henderson's Band. Among the numbers Henderson recorded while Allen was in the band, was the futuristic sounding "Queer Notions," with solos by Coleman Hawkins and Allen
For the last Henderson recording, we will listen to a selection after Hawkins and Allen had left the band. Among their replacements were Roy Eldridge and Chu Berry. Here the band performs a favorite during the swing era, "Blue Lou."
One of my favorite jazz trumpeters of the swing era is Henry 'Red' Allen. Son of a legendary Brass Band leader, he first came to notice as part of Luis Russell's Band with whom he made some memorable recordings. He was also in Fletcher Henderson's Big Band in the thirties and later formed a small group similar to Louis Jordan. In the fifties, until his passing in 1967, he played predominantly in a trad jazz vein.
Here he is with Luis Russell's Big band where he is featured on trumpet on "Jersey Lightning." Pops Foster is on bass and J.C. Higginbotham on trombone.
Here is a fabulous recording with Red Allen's trumpet the highlight along with Coleman Hawkins in "Queer Notions" from Fletcher Henderson.
Later in the Mills Rhythm Band, they recorded this feature for Red Allen, "Ride Red Ride," which he would record numerous times including with Coleman Hawkins on a 1957 RCA Victor album.
The first time I heard Red Allen was listening to Phil Schaap over WKCR on Saturday Nights when he opened with "The Crawl." This was simply a stunning jump blues and we have a soundie of them performing this.
Finally, we find him in a swing-trad vein from the classic television show "The Sound of Jazz" performing "Rosetta." Besides Coleman Hawkins and Pee Wee Russell, there is Vic Dickenson on trombone, Rex Stewart on cornet, Jo Jones on drums, Danny Barker on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass and Nat Pierce on piano.
I could easily have chosen many more tunes by him. There is such joy in Red Allen's playing and his music is well worth sampling.
Today's blog is devoted to simply presenting a number of renditions of a song most associated with Leroy Carr, How Long, How Long Blues. This was a major hot for Carr and became one of the true blues classics.
First up is Carr's original recording
Second is Tampa Red although I wish we just had the music, not the video and audio of a 78 playing.
Ida Cox's How Long Daddy speaks about that southbound train. It predates Carr's recording. Cox was one of the early blues greatest talents.
Kokomo Arnold also did a terrific rendition of this
Let us not forget some superb instrumental piano renditions including Count Basie
And no instrumemntal rendition touches me as much as that by the great Jimmy Yancey.
A year before he died, Jimmy Yancey did this with Mama Yancey singing wonderfully
Carr' song was a favorite of blues shouters like Jimmy Rushing, Jimmy Witherspoon and Big Joe Turner. Here is the Boss of the Blues singing it from the essential album The Boss of the Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz.
Other singer-pianists have done including Memphis Slim and Champion Jack Dupree. I have included Dupree's rendition from 1945.
It has been a song that jazz performers have interpreted such as Coleman Hawkins. There is a superb duet performance by Archie Shepp and pianist Horace Parlan on the terrific album Trouble in Mind. Here is Coleman Hawkins.
Among recent blues renditions, I consider the best to be from pianist Butch Thompson and guitarist Pat Donohue. Here is Thompson channeling Jimmy Yancey as I close this blog post.
Coleman Hawkins, In Europe: London, Paris & Brussels (Standing Oh!vation), is an import DVD that collects video from four different European locations with Jazz’s first great tenor saxophonist heard in different group contexts from 1962 to 1966. The DVD contains nearly two hours of performances from those shows as well as a bonus of almost a half hour in bonus performances from the 1960 TV film, After Hours with another group featuring Hawkins.
In Europe opens with a quintet that he co-leads with Harry ‘Sweets” Edison with a group that includes Sir Charles Thompson on piano, Jimmy Woods on bass and Jo Jones on drums. Filmed in 1964 at London's Town Hall, the full group is featured on Wardell Grey’s Stoned. This is followed by ballad features for Hawkins (September Song), Thompson (What’sNew on which Hawkins is heard reciting the melody at the opening), and Edison (Willow Weep For Me). The full group is seen on Edison’s blues Centerpiece, before the set closes with the Ellington standard, Caravan, which spotlights drummer Jones. The next set is from 1966’s Royal Jazz Festival in London and has Hawkins in a quintet co-led with the great Benny Carter and with a terrific rhythm section of Teddy Wilson on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Louis Bellson on drums. They launch into a swinging Blue Lou, before short ballad features for Carter, I Can’t Get Started, and Hawkins, Body and Soul, before a lengthy romp on Hawkins’ Disorder at the Border, which gives everyone a chance to stretch out. Musically, these selections may be the highpoint of this video compilation.
A nice 1966 Parisian rendition of the standard Moonglow follows with Hawkins supported by Oscar Peterson on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on bass is followed by an intriguing 1962 quintet date from Brussels with pianist George Arvanitas, guitarist Mickey Baker, bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Kansas Fields. The interesting program opens with an unaccompanied tenor sax solo from Hawkins, Blowing For Adolphe Sax. The rest of the program includes a spirited Disorder at the Border, South of France Blues (aka Blues in G and Rifftide. “South of France Blues” is reminiscent of “After Hours” and is a chance for guitarist Baker, a respected session man on hundreds of sessions and the Mickey of Mickey & Sylvia fame, to shine in addition to Hawkins.
As if these performances were not enough, the 1960 TV show After Hours is included, with a sextet co-led with trumpeter Roy Eldridge, a rhythm section of guitarist Barry Galbraith, pianist Johnny Guarnieri bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Cozy Cole with vocalist Carol Stevens. Legendary NYC radio announcer William B. Williams does the voice over to set the scene of a late night after hours club where the musicians just pop in to play and if the setting is a little contrived, the music is very solid.
I would not be surprised if Standing Oh!vation is a successor to the Improv-Jazz series of DVDs and like those, the packaging is not very elaborate. It lacks the superb annotation that is characteristic of the JazzIkons series of DVDs and the reproduction of the original film does not seem to be as good, but certainly the video here is quite satisfactory and the performances are quite welcome to have available. Fans of the Hawk and swinging jazz will enjoy these.
This review originally appeared in the March 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 314) and my review copy was provided by a publicist. It may be hard to find as well but worth searching out. Jazz Loft (www.jazzloft.com) does show this in their online DVD catalog.
Coleman Hawkins from you tube performing South of France Blues.
Nica’s Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness David Kastin New York: WWNorton
Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter played an intriguing, even crucial role, in New York City’s jazz scene in the fifties through the eighties. A member of the Rothschild family, Nica, as she was known, was a patron to a number of the most significant jazz artists of the time including Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Barry Harris, Mary Lou Williams, and Thelonious Monk. She was, in the eyes of some, a controversial and scandalous figure as some of the tabloid sheets wrote about her and the death of Charlie Parker. David Kastin has attempted to separate fact from myth in providing her story, one he was able to cast from news accounts and interviews with many of the musicians who knew her as well as published interviews with her. Unfortunately limited assistance were provided by her children who have generally held to Rothschild family custom of not talking about family matters. Still Kastin weaves a fascinating portrait
Kastin provides a background in the history of the Rothschilds, including the immediate ancestors and siblings of Pannonica which include individuals who would be viewed as eccentric as she would. Her early life, including the somewhat sheltered life she had, her marriage and her experiences as part of the French Resistance in World War II are described as is her introduction to jazz while living in Mexico with her husband, who was a diplomat, when she heard excerpts of Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown & Beige.” She had met Teddy Wilson in Europe and started making forays into New York City with Wilson, who in his Harlem apartment played Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight,” which would prove pivotal.
Estranged from her husband who tried to have a very controlling relationship, she moved to New York beginning a remarkable life over several decades where she befriended and hosted so many famous musicians at the Stanhope Hotel, and two other hotels . She outwore her welcome in each because of her relationship with musicians coming in at all hours. Eventually, she had a home in New Jersey, overlooking Manhattan known as the Cathouse because of the countless felines that lived there along with musicians who would come by at all hours (like they had when she was at a hotel). Kastin weaves in a history of big band jazz, bebop along with other progressive artist groups like the beats and painters like Jackson Pollack.
She was able to develop a relationship with musicians of totally different circumstances who learned that she appreciated them as artists and did not regard them as exotics. She also appreciated their music and they learned to value her opinions as well, advice and patronage. Charlie Parker took ill, but not wanting to go to a hospital, she had her personal doctor look after him. He died watching television at her Stanhope hotel suite leading to scandal in the papers (the white rich woman and black jazz artist) and leading her husband to finally file for divorce, although the scandal was more of ‘no good deed going unpunished.’
Other jazz greats would have lengthy associations with Nica, but none more importantly than Thelonious Monk. There relationship was of strong, close, platonic friends and Monk’s wife Nellie also became a good friend. A good portion of this book is the story of Nica and Monk’s relationship, and how she fostered and supported his music and person. The affection Monk had for her is reflected in the two compositions he wrote for her, “Pannonica” and “Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lue-are.” The latter tune refers to the Hotel Bolivar, where she moved after the Stanhope management made it clear she was no longer welcome them. Monk was not alone in celebrating Nica. Sonny Clark, Kenny Dorham, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Drew, Gigi Gryce, Freddie Redd, Barry Harris, and Horace Silver also wrote memorable compositions in her honor.
The lengthy discussion of Monk and Nica complements that in Robert Kelley’s superb biography, “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of An American Original.” Kelley in fact provides a blurb praising this book as “a stunning cultural biography of New York City and a riveting portrait of one the most fascinating figures of the twentieth century.” Kelley’s succinct comments summarize my feelings about this volume on a lady who made substantial contributions to the jazz scene of the fifties through eighties without playing a note. Her story will captivate any fan of this music as it did me.
One of the most interesting pieces of news this week was the NY Times article on the donation of the Bill Savory collection of nearly 1000 discs that he recorded in the hey dey of swing music to the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Bill Savory was an audio engineer who was a friend of a number of jazz musicians and made recordings off the the radio for his own enjoyment, using 12 and even 16 inch aluminum or acetate discs, sometimes recorded at 33 1/3 rpm which in the words of the NY Times article, "allowed Mr. Savory to record longer performances in their entirety, including jam sessions at which musicians could stretch out and play extended solos that tested their creative mettle."
The Times ran a separate story by Times Jazz CriticBen Ratliff and describes some of the performances and describes what was a remarkable Coleman Hawkins performance of “Body & Soul” that was made several months after Hawkins’ classic commercial recording. Included with this story is a video that provides an overview and an interview with Doug Pomeroy who discussed the state of the discs, some of which could not be recovered at all and the steps taken to restore and digitize the music from other discs.
Finally, the Times has on their website some short audio-clipsof performances including Hawkins, Lester Young and a blues jam by Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Jack Teagarden.
The Jazz Lives bloghas their own overview of this story. Their blog notes that the National Jazz Museum will be presenting four programs on these treasures as part of their Tuesday evening JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS series, held from 7:00 – 8:30PM at our Visitors Center, 104 E. 126th Street, NY, NY 10035.
September 7 – You Won’t Believe It – An Overview September 14 – Tenor Madness – Lester Young/Coleman Hawkins/Chu Berry/Herschel Evans September 21 – Trumpet Titans – Louis Armstrong/Roy Eldridge/Harry James/Bunny Berigan September 28 – Jam Sessions – Benny Goodman/Bobby Hackett/Lionel Hampton/Slim and Slam
Today, I was at Barnes & Noble, in downtown Washington DC, and browsing the jazz and blues books section when I come across a book, Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats. I pick it up skim through it and then purchased it. It is published by Abrams Image and the credits have it compiled and photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter with a forward by Gary Giddins and an Introduction by Nadine de Koenigswarter, granddaughter of Pannonica. Pannonica is better known as Nica, the Baronness who befriended so many jazz musicians for such a long period of time. She was the person in whose apartment Charlie Parker died. Later, when she purchased a house in New Jersey, many jazz musicians visited or stayed with her. In 1957, she helped Thelonious Monk regain his caabaret license and also campaigned for its elimination which occurred when John Lindsay was elected Mayor. Monk had encouraged her to buy a house and she did ,which was named the Cathouse, and Monk himself moved there with his family in 1973, staying there until he passed. Others moved in or stayed for a period.
What the book compiles is the answers of about 300 jazz musicians to what three wishes in life they had. The text consists of their answers. Included are countless photographs of jazz legends from Monk, Barry Harris, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Sonny Clark John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Mary Lou Williams, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and countless others. Most of her photos were taken with a Polaroid camera, and several of the images are from worn photos, but the pictures, like their words, speak to us decades later. Some of informal, intimate images of them at the house, others sghow them perforing at the Cathouse. This is a book one can easily get lost with for days and hopefully should be available at your better book store or from the large internet retailers.
Tenor saxophonist Bennie Wallace has a most intriguing career playing with blues and gospel artists as well as served as the musical director for several films including Blaze and Bull Durham. His own recordings have included sideman as diverse as Tommy Flanagan, Dr. John, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dave Holland, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, Oliver Lake and Ray Anderson. Viewed as among the most original saxophonists, he has had a deep reverence for classic saxophonists as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young and Don Byas. His latest Enja/JustinTime disc is a tribute to Coleman Hawkins, Disorder at the Border, that was recorded at a German concert in 2004, the year of the Hawkins Centenary. With a superb nine-piece big little band, they run through a program of songs associated with Hawkins in swinging arrangements that hint at Jazz at the Philharmonic and similar type gigs, but with wonderful arrangements by Anthony Wilson (except for Wallace on Honeysuckle Rose) that provide a bit of a more modern ambiance than the simple riffs of those swinging groups of years gone buy. Others present are Terell Stafford on trumpet, Ray Anderson on trombone, Jesse Davis and Brad Leali on alto saxophone, Adam Schroeder on baritone saxophone, Donald Vega on piano, Danton Boller on bass and Alvin Queen on drums. It opens with Hawkins’ title track, a blues-based number that Wallace gets right into. Stafford and Schroeder certainly get noticed with some hot playing on Bean & the Boys, the other Hawkins original. Wilson’s arrangement over Vega’s piano provides just the right setting for Wallace’s ballad playing which suggests a bit of Ben Webster with his heavy vibrato. Wallace’s arrangement of Honeysuckle Rose is inspired by Benny Carter's arrangement of the song with Vega’s thoughtful piano being to the fore before the horns dig in and the tempo kicks up a notch in a playful mode with Davis and Leali featured as they both take several choruses before they start trading off each other, before Schroeder takes the front stage and a gruff chorus by Anderson. On Body and Soul, the spare arrangement almost provides a feeling to the performance that Wallace is unaccompanied on his remarkable homage to Hawkins on what was perhaps his biggest hit. It is a entrancing performance. The rousing Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho, is the longest performance which takes this marvelous disc to a strong conclusion.
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Today, I was at Barnes & Noble, in downtown Washington DC, and browsing the jazz and blues books section when I come across a book, Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats. I pick it up skim through it and then purchased it. It is published by Abrams Image and the credits have it compiled and photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter with a forward by Gary Giddins and an Introduction by Nadine de Koenigswarter, granddaughter of Pannonica. Pannonica is better known as Nica, the Baronness who befriended so many jazz musicians for such a long period of time. She was the person in whose apartment Charlie Parker died. Later, when she purchased a house in New Jersey, many jazz musicians visited or stayed with her. In 1957, she helped Thelonious Monk regain his caabaret license and also campaigned for its elimination which occurred when John Lindsay was elected Mayor. Monk had encouraged her to buy a house and she did ,which was named the Cathouse, and Monk himself moved there with his family in 1973, staying there until he passed. Others moved in or stayed for a period.
