Requisites
Sketches of Spain was a seminal work from the third Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaboration and it has become a classic among his fans. It has been ranked 350 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Personnel: Miles Davis – trumpet, Paul Chambers – bass, Jimmy Cobb – drums, Elvin Jones – percussion
Orchestra: Danny Bank – bass clarinet; Bill Barber – tuba; John Barrows – French horn; Albert Block – flute; James Buffington – French horn; Eddie Caine – flute, flugelhorn; Harold Feldman – clarinet, flute, oboe; Earl Chapin – French horn; Johnny Coles – trumpet; Harold Feldman – clarinet, flute, oboe; Bernie Glow – trumpet; Dick Hixon – trombone; Taft Jordan – trumpet; Jack Knitzer – bassoon; Jose Mangual – percussion; Jimmy McAllister – tuba; Tony Miranda – French horn; Louis Mucci – trumpet; Romeo Penque – oboe; Janet Putnam – harp; Frank Rehak – trombone; Ernie Royal – trumpet; Joe Singer – French horn
Arranger/Conductor: Gil Evans
Record Date: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City – between November 20, 1959 and March 1960
Release Date: July 18, 1960
Producers: Teo Macero & Irving Townsend
Songs: Concierto De Aranjuez, Will O’ The Wisp, The Pan Piper, Saeta, Solea
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Phil Wilson was born Phillips Elder Wilson, Jr. on January 19, 1937 in Belmont, Massachusetts. He began on piano, but was advised to switch to trombone due to his having a mild form of dyslexia. This condition did not hamper his music and by fifteen he had turned professional. He played for Herb Pomeroy’s band from 1955 to 1957 and after which he toured with the Dorsey brothers. He would also work with Woody Herman’s band and in the 1960s wrote music for Buddy Rich.
By the mid-1960s Phil started recording as a leader and over the course of his career has released fourteen albums. Making a name for himself as an educator he joined the faculty at Berklee College of Music in 1965. He formed an ensemble there that became one of the most well regarded college jazz bands. He has also sat as a former chairman of the jazz division of the New England Conservatory of Music.
A jazz trombonist and arranger, Wilson continues to compose, perform and teach.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Thompson was born Donald Winston Thompson in Powell River, British Columbia on January 18, 1940. He learned to play the bass, piano and vibes and by age 20 was living in Vancouver freelancing primarily on bass. He also played with popular jazz troupes, led his own groups and regularly appeared on radio and television.
By 1965 he joined John Handy’s quintet and moved to San Francisco, toured extensively throughout the U.S. and recorded two albums for Columbia Records. During this period he worked with Frank Rosolino, Maynard Ferguson, Denny Zeitlin and George Duke.
1967 in Toronto had Don joining Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass in ‘69, first as a percussionist, bassist and pianist for six years. Joining Moe Koffman’s group in the Seventies he would contribute arrangements and compositions as well as playing piano and bass and working his own projects.
Thompson worked an toured with Jim Hall throughout Europe and Japan, was a member of the “house rhythm section” at Toronto’s Bourbon Street Jazz Club and worked with Paul Desmond, Art Framer, James Moody, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Harry Edison, Slide Hampton, Abbey Lincoln and many others. He would also work in other venues with Sarah Vaughan, Shelia Jordan, Joe Henderson, Dewey Redman and the list continues.
Don has received numerous awards, recorded several albums both as a leader and sideman and is currently working as a freelance musician, teacher, member of the band JMOG and leader of his own quartet.
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Jazz In Film
Raintree County: This 1957 Edward Dmytryk directed film starred Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Eva Marie Saint.
The story: A graduating poet/teacher falls in love with a Southern woman, and then the Civil War and her past create problems.
The John Green music score includes a vocal “The Song of Raintree County” with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. On the soundtrack Nat King Cole sang the song, and George Fields performed the soundtrack harmonica solos.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Billy Harper was born on January 17, 1943 in Houston, Texas and by the age of 5 was singing both choral and solo at secular and sacred events. By 14 while attending Worthing High School, he formed his first Billy Harper Quintet. Graduating cum laude he studied saxophone and music theory at North Texas State University and was a member of their big band, winning first prize at the 1965 Kansas Jazz Festival.
The Coltrane-influenced tenor moved to New York the next year and attracted the attention of more than a few jazz greats playing with Art Blakey for two years, then Elvin Jones, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Max Roach, Randy Weston and Gil Evans into the Seventies. During this period he toured Africa, Europe, Japan and the U.S. with these groups as well as his own quintet.
His distinctive sound can be heard on an impressive list of recordings such as the 1973 seminal black consciousness album “Capra Black” that fused the avant-garde with gospel and his 1976 “Black Saint” that not only launched the Italian label of the same name but exploded Harper onto the international jazz scene. He has recorded more than twenty albums and has also worked with Bobbi Humphrey, Lee Morgan and McCoy Tyner and most of his later sessions have been on the Steeplechase and Evidence labels.
As an educator and lecturer he has taught at Livingston College, Rutgers University and The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, has received numerous grants and awards and currently tours around the world.
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