Jazz Tracks

Click to see the video>>>> Charlie Parker and Colman Hawkins 1950

Watch the video of Louis Armstrong – Basin Street Blues – 1964 >>>>

I think the personell in the video is as follows:
Armstrong, Louis (Trumpet, Vocal)
Moore, Russell “Big Chief” (Trombone)
Darensbourg, Joe (Clarinet)
Kyle, Billy (Piano)
Shaw, Arvell (Bass)
Barcelona, Danny (Drums)

Louis Armstrong(August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971),[2] nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an “inventive” cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music’s focus from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong’s influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to “cross over,” whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.

-Wikipedia

Pat Metheny & Joshua Redman \”Wish\” Quartet – Turnaround (Live by The Sea 1997)

Life and career

Redman was born in Berkeley, California to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. His father was African American and his mother was Jewish.  He was exposed to many kinds of music at the Center for World Music in Berkeley, where his mother studied South Indian dance. Some of his earliest lessons in music and improvisation were on recorder with gamelan player Jody Diamond. He was exposed at an early age to a variety of musics (jazz, classical, rock, soul, Indian, Indonesian, Middle-Eastern, African) and instruments (recorder, piano, guitar, gatham, gamelan), and began playing clarinet at age nine before switching to what became his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone, one year later. The early influences of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cannonball Adderley and his father, Dewey Redman, as well as the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Earth, Wind andFire, Prince, the –Police and Led Zeppelin drew Joshua more deeply into music.

He graduated from Berkeley High School,^[2] class of 1986, after having been a part of the award-winning Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble for all 4 years of high school.

In 1991, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. He had already been accepted by Yale Law School, but deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. Some of his friends (former students at the Berklee College of Music whom Joshua had met while in Boston) had recently relocated to Brooklyn, and they were looking for another housemate to help with the rent. Redman accepted their invitation to move in, and almost immediately he found himself immersed in the New York jazz scene. He began jamming and gigging regularly with some of the leading jazz musicians of his generation, including Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Kevin Hays, Roy Hargrove, Geoffrey Keezer, Leon Parker, Jorge Rossy and Mark Turner.

Redman won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991, and began focusing on his musical career. Now fully committed to a life in music, Redman was quickly signed by Warner Bros. Records and issued his first, self-titled album in the spring of 1993, which subsequently earned Redman his first Grammy nomination. Redman continued to develop his style throughout the 1990s, beginning with a sideman appearance on Elvin Jones‘ Youngblood alongside Javon Jackson (recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in April 1991), and following up with an appearance on his father Dewey’s 1992 record Choices. On his second album as a leader, Wish, he was joined by a notable lineup consisting of guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins; he would later tour this album asThe Joshua Redman Quartet, featuring Christian McBride in place of Charlie Haden. He continued to work with various quartets, including one with pianistBrad Mehldau until forming a new trio, Elastic, with keyboardist Sam Yahel and drummer Brian Blade. The trio debuted under the moniker Yaya3, producing one album under this name. The same group of musicians made up the core on Redman’s Elastic album, before becoming known as the Joshua Redman Elastic Band. Some of his works were featured on The Weather Channel‘s Local On The 8s.

In 1994, Redman appeared on the Red Hot Organization‘s compilation CD, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, appearing on a track titled “The Scream” along side Us3and Tony Remy. The album was named “Album of the Year” by Time Magazine. He also appeared as a member of the “Louisiana Gator Boys” in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000.

In 2000, Redman was named Artistic Director for the Spring Season of the non-profit jazz-presenting organization SFJAZZ. Redman and SFJAZZ Executive Director Randall Kline had an idea that The New York Times called a “eureka moment”; the creation of the SFJAZZ Collective, an ensemble distinguished both by the creativity of its members and a unique primary emphasis on composition. Inaugurated in 2004, the eight-piece band consists of a multi-generational cast of accomplished musicians. The Collective’s repertoire features both commissioned works and new arrangements of the work of great modern jazz composers. In March 2007, Redman announced that he was taking a hiatus from both the SFJAZZ Artistic Directorship and the SFJAZZ Collective in order to focus on new projects.

Redman has made a guest appearance on an episode of the TV show Arthur as the uncle of Francine, one of the main characters. The episode also depicts him in a boxing match against classic cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He also appeared on Reading Rainbow, episode 127 “Hip-Cat”, in which Redman discussed with host LeVar Burton the importance of music and how jazz had affected his life, which he followed with a live performance. Redman also performed on the soundtrack of the made for TV film “Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story” (1995).

In April 2007, Nonesuch released Redman’s first ever piano-less trio record, Back East, featuring Joshua alongside three bass and drum rhythm sections (Larry Grenadier & Ali Jackson, Christian McBride & Brian Blade, Reuben Rogers & Eric Harland) and three guest saxophonists (Chris Cheek, Joe Lovano and Dewey Redman). His January 2009 release, Compass, continues the trio tradition, and even includes some tracks with a double-trio set-up, featuring saxophone, two basses, and two drummers.

Starting in late 2009, Joshua Redman began performing with a new collaborative band called James Farm, featuring pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. They released their first album on April 26, 2011.

Thomas “Fats” Waller was so universally loved, even the young Beatles auditioned with Decca Records by recording Fat’s Waller tune, “Your Feet’s Too Big”

View the hilarious film of Fats singing, by clicking here>>>> Your Feet\’s Too Big

Waller’s touch varied, and he was a master of dynamics and tension and release. He played with many performers, from Nat Shilkret (on Victor 21298-A) and Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, “Fats Waller and his Rhythm”.

His playing once put him at risk of injury. Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by gangster Al Capone. Fats was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the “surprise guest” at Al Capone’s birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters didn’t intend to kill him. According to rumor, Waller played for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.

Waller wrote “Squeeze Me” (1919), “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now”, “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929), “Blue Turning Grey Over You”, “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” (1929), “Honeysuckle Rose” (1929), and “Jitterbug Waltz” (1942). He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf. He composed stride piano display pieces such as “Handful of Keys“, “Valentine Stomp” and “Viper’s Drag”.

He enjoyed success touring the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1930s. He appeared in one of the first BBC Television broadcasts. While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for EMI on their Compton Theatre organ located in their Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood. He appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably “Stormy Weather” in 1943, which was released July 21, just months before his death, December 15, 1943. For the hit Broadway show, “Hot Chocolates”, he and Razaf wrote “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” (1929), which became a hit for Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong. This searing treatment of racism refutes the early criticism of Waller that his creations and performances were “shallow entertainment”.^[citation needed^]

Waller performed Bach organ pieces for small groups on occasion. Waller influenced many pre-bop jazz pianists; Count Basie and Erroll Garner have both reanimated his hit songs (notably, “Ain’t Misbehavin’”). In addition to his playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances.

Waller contracted pneumonia and died on a cross country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri on December 15, 1943.     -Wikipedia

To view this great band on YouTube, click here>>>     Don Redman & His Orchestra with Red & Struggie 1934 

Don Redman:

originator of the Big Band Swing sound

Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.

Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009.

Redman was born in Piedmont, West Virginia. His father was a music teacher, his mother was a singer. Don began playing the trumpet at the age of 3, joined his first band at 6 and by age 12 he was proficient on all wind instruments ranging from trumpet to oboe as well as piano. He studied at Storer’s College [He was the first African American to have a bachelors degree in music and played 28 instruments] in Harper’s Ferry and at the Boston Conservatory, then joined Billy Page‘s Broadway Syncopaters in New York City. (He was the uncle of saxophonist Dewey Redman, and thus great-uncle of saxophonist Joshua Redman and trumpeter Carlos Redman.) 

In 1923 Don Redman joined the Fletcher Henderson orchestra, mostly playing clarinet and saxophones. He soon began writing arrangements, and Redman did much to formulate the sound that was to become big band Swing. (It is significant to note that with a few exceptions, Henderson did not start arranging until the mid-1930s. Redman did the bulk of arrangements (through 1927) and after he left, Benny Carter took over arranging for the Henderson band.)

Career

His importance in the formulation of arranged hot jazz can not be overstated; a chief trademark of Redman’s arrangements was that he harmonized melody lines and pseudo-solos within separate sections; for example, clarinet, sax, or brass trios. He played these sections off each other, having one section punctuate the figures of another, or moving the melody around different orchestral sections and soloists. His use of this technique was sophisticated, highly innovative, and formed the basis of much big band jazz writing in the following decades.

In 1927 Jean Goldkette convinced Redman to join the Detroit, Michigan-based band McKinney’s Cotton Pickers as their musical director and leader. He was responsible for their great success and arranged over half of their music (splitting the arranging duties with John Nesbitt through 1931). Redman was occasionally featured as their vocalist, displaying a charming, humorous vocal style.

Don Redman and his Orchestra

Redman then formed his own band in 1931^[3] (featuring, for a time, Fletcher Henderson’s younger brother Horace on piano), which got a residency at the famous Manhattan jazz club Connie’s Inn. Redman’s band got a recording contract with Brunswick Records and a series of radio broadcasts. Redman and his orchestra also provided music for the animated short I Heard, part of the Betty Boop series produced byFleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount. Redman composed original music for the short, which was released on September 1, 1933.

The Brunswick records Redman made between 1931-1934 were some of the most complex pre-swing hot jazz arrangements of popular tunes. Redman’s band didn’t rely on just a driving rhythm or great soloists, but it had an overall level of arranging sophistication that’s unlike anyone else of the period.

Notable musicians in Redman’s band included Sidney De Paris, trumpet, Edward Inge, clarinet, and singer Harlan Lattimore, who was known as “The Colored Bing Crosby”. On the side Redman also did arrangements for other band leaders and musicians, including Paul Whiteman, Isham Jones, and Bing Crosby.

In 1933, his band made a Vitaphone short film for Warner Bros. which is available as of 2006 on the DVD of the Busby Berkeley feature film Dames.

Redman recorded for Brunswick through 1934. He did a number of sides for ARC in 1936 (issued on their Vocalion, Perfect, Melotone, etc.) and in 1937, he pioneered a series of swing re-arrangements of old classic pop tunes for the Variety label. His use of a swinging vocal group (called “The Swing Choir”) was very modern and even today, a bit usual, with Redman’s sophisticated counter-point melodies. He signed with Bluebird in 1938 and recorded with them until 1940, when he disbanded.

In 1940 Redman disbanded his orchestra, and concentrated on freelance work writing arrangements. Some of his arrangements became hits for Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, and Harry James. He appeared onUptown Jubilee on the CBS Television network for the 1949 season. In the 1950s he was music director for singer Pearl Bailey.

In the early 1960s he played piano for the Georgia Minstrels Concert and soprano sax with Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle‘s band.

Don Redman died in New York City on November 30, 1964.

–Wikipedia

To hear the jazz giant play “Oleo”clickhere>>> MgZVT2m0ziY

Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins (born September 7, 1930 in New York City) is a Grammy Award-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazzmusicians. A number of his compositions, including “St. Thomas“, “Oleo“, “Doxy“, and “Airegin“, have become jazz standards.

Early Life and Career

While Rollins was born in New York City, his parents were born in the United States Virgin Islands.^[2] Rollins received his first saxophone at age 13.

Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high-school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor. He was first recorded in 1949 with Babs Gonzales ( J.J Johnson was the arranger of the group). In his recordings through 1954, he played with performers such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.^[5]

In 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and given a sentence of three years. He spent 10 months in Rikers Island jail before he was released on parole. In 1952 he was arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin. Rollins was assigned to the Federal Medical Center, Lexington, at the time the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts. While there he was a volunteer for then-experimental methadone therapy and was able to break his heroin habit.^{[citation needed]} Rollins himself initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success.

As a saxophonist he had initially been attractedto the jump and R&B sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. Joachim Berendt has described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of be-bop in the 1950s.^[6]

Rollins began to make a name for himself in 1949 as he recorded with J.J Johnson and Bud Powell what would later be called “Hard Bop”, with Miles Davis in 1951, with the Modern Jazz Quartet and with Thelonious Monk in 1953, but the breakthrough arrived in 1954 when he recorded his famous compositions “Oleo” “Airegin” and “Doxy” with a quintet led by Davis. Rollins then joined the Clifford Brown–Max Roach quintet in 1955 (recordings made by this group have been released asSonny Rollins Plus 4 and Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street; Rollins also plays on half of More Study in Brown), and after Brown’s death in 1956 worked mainly as a leader. By this time he had begun his contract with Prestige Records, which released some of his best-known albums, although during the later 1950s Rollins recorded for Blue Note, Riverside and the Los Angeles label Contemporary.

Saxophone Colossus

His widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus was recorded on June 22, 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder‘s studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, formerJazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins and his favorite drummer Max Roach. This was Rollins’ sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition “St. Thomas“, a Caribbean calypso based on a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as the fast bebop number “Strode Rode”, and “Moritat” (the Kurt Weill composition also known as “Mack the Knife“).

In 1956 he also recorded Tenor Madness, using Miles Davis‘ group – pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. The title track is the only recording of Rollins with John Coltrane, who was also in Davis’ group.

the end of the year Rollins recorded a set for Blue Note with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Gene Ramey on bass, and Rollins’ long-term collaborator Max Roach on drums. This has been released as Sonny Rollins Volume One (the superstar session Volume Two recorded the following year has consistently outsold it).

–Wikipedia

To hear the jazz giant play “Oleo”clickhere>>>>  MgZVT2m0ziY

See the video of this classic performance of >>>>>>>>>>> Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra play Cherokee

Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.

His major recordings were “Skyliner”, “Cherokee“, “The Wrong Idea”, “Scotch and Soda”, “In a Mizz”, and “Southland Shuffle”.

Barnet attended various boarding schools, both in the New York and Chicago areas. He learned to play piano and saxophone as a child. He often left school to listen to music and to try to gain work as a musician.^[2]Charlie Barnet was born in New York City. His parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised by his mother and her grandparents. His grandfather was Charles Frederick Daly, a vice-president for the New York Central Railroad, banker, and businessman.

Although he began his recording career in October 1933, Charlie Barnet was at the height of his popularity between 1939 and 1941, a period that began with his hit version of “Cherokee“, written by Ray Noble and arranged by Billy May. In 1944, Barnet had another big hit with “Skyliner”. In 1947, he started to switch from swing music to bebop. During his swing period his band included Buddy DeFranco, Roy Eldridge, Neal Hefti, Lena Horne, Barney Kessel, Dodo Marmorosa, Oscar Pettiford, and Art House, while later versions of the band included Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, and Clark Terry. Trumpeter Billy May was an arranger in the Charlie Barnet Orchestra before joining Glenn Miller in 1940.

                                                                                                           –Wikipedia

Click on the link below to watch this classic performance >>> Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra play Cherokee

Take a look at this great group, just click here > >> Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross on YouTube

Wikipedia:

The group formed in 1957 and recorded their first album Sing a Song of Basie for Paramount Records. The album featured versions of Count Basie standards and was successful enough that the Count Basie Orchestra collaborated with them on Sing Along With Basie (1959), which was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.

Beginning in 1959, the trio recorded three LPs with Columbia Records. They recorded a version of Ross’ 1952 song “Twisted“, featuring her lyrics set to a Wardell Gray melody. Their High Flying won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group in 1962. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were voted Best Vocal Group in the Down Beat Readers Poll from 1959 to 1963.

Annie Ross left the group in 1962, replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. The renamed Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan made three live albums before disbanding in 1964. Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan appeared at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, and their performance of “Comin’ Home” and “Moanin’” can be seen in Buddy Bregman‘s film The 1962 Newport Jazz Festival.

The group was also known as Lambert, Hendricks and Moss when Canadian jazz singer Anne Marie Moss briefly replaced Annie Ross.^[1]

Any hopes of a reunion of the original trio ended with Lambert’s death in a road accident in Connecticut in 1966.

http://youtu.be/k-b7ltWfl8U