Requisites
Joy Spring ~ Joe Pass Quartet | By Eddie Carter
One of my favorite guitarists, Joe Pass, enters this morning’s spotlight with a 1964 live date that sat in the vault for seventeen years. Joy Spring (Blue Note Classic LT-1103) by The Joe Pass Quartet showcases their February 6 performance at the Encore Theatre. Joe is joined on stage by Mike Wofford on piano, Jim Hughart on bass, and Colin Bailey on drums. My copy is the original 1981 US Stereo release. Side One opens with the title tune Joy Spring by Clifford Brown. The quartet establishes the theme leisurely, paving the way for Joe to take a happy strut on the first reading. Mike cruises comfortably through the following statement, then Jim concludes with a laid-back walk toward the finale and the crowd’s ovation.
Some Time Ago by Sergio Mihanovich begins with a beautiful introduction by Wofford. Pass leads the quartet in an exceptionally gentle melody, then devotes an equal degree of care to the first interpretation. Wofford makes the subsequent point with an affectionate touch ahead of the guitarist’s thoughtfully tender climax. The tempo moves upward for the ensemble’s spirited theme to The Night Has A Thousand Eyes by Buddy Bernier and Jerry Branin. Joe takes the first solo spot and swings with an intensity that builds excitement as it unfolds. Mike keeps the beat going with a brisk workout complemented by Jim and Colin’s lively accompaniment ahead of the quartet’s reprise and disappearance to the audience’s applause.
Side Two starts with Relaxin’ at Camarillo by Charlie Parker. The title refers to Parker’s six-month recovery from alcohol and drug addiction at the California State Hospital. The quartet sets the mood for what follows in an easy-swinging theme. Pass is given considerable space for an enjoyable opening statement, then Wofford has something to say in an impressive performance. Hughart takes a jaunty stroll in the closing reading into the theme restatement. There Is No Greater Love by Isham Jones, and Marty Symes begins with a guitar and piano duet, segueing into the ensemble’s blissful melody. Joe opens with a very engaging statement, then Mike delivers a charming presentation. Jim puts an exclamation point in the closing interpretation preceding the quartet’s soft summation.
Richard Bock produced Joy Spring, and Dino Lappas recorded the quartet’s performance. The sound quality is excellent, with an exquisite soundstage. Everyone is in top form, and the ensemble never fails to satisfy during this set of irresistibly enticing music. In a career lasting five decades, Joe Pass was regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the most gifted musicians in jazz. His discography as a leader and a sideman is extensive, and he always brought something unique to each session. Joe’s solo albums and work with Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson have also stood the test of time. He died from liver cancer at age sixty-five on May 23, 1994. If you like jazz guitar and are a fan of Joe Pass, I invite you to check out Joy Spring by The Joe Pass Quartet on your next vinyl hunt. It’s a beautiful live performance that’s easy on the ears and merits sincere consideration for any jazz library!
~ The Night Has a Thousand Eyes; There Is No Greater Love – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ Joy Spring, Relaxing at Camarillo – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2023 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pierre Courbois was born on April 23, 1940 in Nijmegen, Netherlands and after studying percussion at the Hogeschool der Kunsten in Arnhem, he left for Paris, France which was the center of jazz in Europe in the early 1960s. He worked with pianist Kenny Drew, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, saxophonists Eric Dolphy, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, and Johnny Griffin, and guitarist René Thomas.
Courbois was one of the first musicians in Europe to experiment with free jazz. In 1961 he became the drummer and leader of the original Free Jazz Quartet. In 1965 he started another group, the Free Music Quintet, composed of international musicians. He also played and recorded with Gunter Hampel’s Heartplants Group with Manfred Schoof and Alexander von Schlippenbach.
Founding the first European jazz-rock group, Association P.C. in 1969, they won the Down Beat poll and stayed together until 1975. In 1982 Pierre put together the group New Association, and played with pianists Mal Waldron and Rein de Graaff, horn players Willem Breuker, Hans Dulfer and Theo Loevendie, and Ali Haurand’s European Jazz Quintet with Gerd Dudeck, Leszek Zadlo and Alan Skidmore.
In 1992 Courbois started a quintet and for the first time in his career performed pieces all composed by himself. This ensemble pleasantly surprised both the critics and the public with a return to the Charles Mingus tradition – thematic, melodic ensemble jazz and an experimentation with linear improvisation. Consistently reinventing himself he has gone on to create the Double Quintet, and the Five Four Sextet.
Drummer, bandleader and composer Pierre Courbois, who was awarded the Bird Award, the highest in the Dutch Jazz World and is a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, continues to perform, record and compose.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born near Kyiv, Ukraine on April 22, 1920 Benjamin “Buzzy” Drootin moved to Boston, Massachusetts with his family when he was five. His father played the clarinet, and two of his brothers and his nephew were musicians. He began playing drums professionally as a teenager. At age twenty, he toured with the Jess Stacy All-Stars, a band that includeded Lee Wiley.
In 1940, he also toured with Ina Ray Hutton, then joined the Wingy Manone band. From 1947 until 1951, he worked as the house drummer at Eddie Condon’s night club in New York City. He was a bandleader at El Morocco club in New York City, and a member of the house band with his brother Al at George Wein’s Storyville club in Boston. During these years he worked with Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Bobby Hackett, Ruby Braff, Claude Hopkins, Jimmy McPartland, Pee Wee Russell, and Arvell Shaw.
Drootin recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden, Eddie Condon, Ruby Braff, Anita O’Day, George Wein, the Newport All-Stars, Lee Konitz, Sidney Bechet, PeeWee Russell and The Dukes of Dixieland. In 1968–69, he toured and recorded with Wild Bill Davison’s Jazz Giants and then formed Buzzy’s Jazz Family, borrowing some of Davison’s sidemen, Herb Hall and Benny Morton, plus added Herman Autrey on trumpet and his nephew, Sonny Drootin, on piano.
In 1973, after touring Europe and America, he returned to his hometown of Boston, where he and his brother Al and nephew Sonny formed the Drootin Brothers Band. They played at the Newport Jazz Festival. He played at the first Newport festival and at many festivals after that. He also played at the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival in the 1980s.
Drummer Buzzy Drootin transitioned on May 21, 2000 from cancer at the age of 80 at the Actors Fund Retirement and Nursing Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cecilia Wennerström was born on April 21, 1947 in Stockholm, Sweden. Educated at the music academies in Malmoe and Gothenburg. She was influenced by Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Jack DeJohnette, and Charlie Haden. She took part in a workshop led by David Murray and has allied herself with the music since the Eighties.
From 1979-91 she was the leader of Salamander, a jazz group that toured a lot in Sweden and Europe on festivals and clubs. Salamander made its debut 1981 at the Women’s Jazz Festival in Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1990 she started working with the talented singer and voice art performer Marie Selander in several creative and exciting projects, like for instance Maries composition “Blåst-Tuuli-Wind” that was performed in Kallio-Kuninkala Festival, Finland in 1996. She would go on to tour many times between 1997 to 1999. During the decade she was a member of the all nordic women big band April Light Orchestra
Cecilia is a member of Wennerstrom Larsson Explicity with her husband Sven Larsson. They released their first CD Tussilago in 2011, and she is in the octet LARS 8 which plays compositions by Lars Gullin and other Swedish jazz icons.
Saxophonist, composer and arranger Cecilia Wennerström has won several awards over the three decades and continues to perform, record and compose.
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The Jazz Voyager
This week I caught a plane to the home of country music where jazz has taken a footing. This Jazz Voyager is at the Nashville Jazz Workshop to hear Lizzie Thomas sing her heart out. The New Yorker will be unveiling unconventional and adventurous songs that she has recorded with some of her favorite artists as a duo.
Reminiscent of Tony Bennett’s endeavors, however, instead of vocalists, this vocalist has chosen to pair with a few of the finest instrumentalists in the business. They are Russell Malone, Helio Alves, Ron Carter, Cafe Da Silva, Ron Affif, Dezron Douglas, Wayne Escoffery, Rossano Sportiello, Guilherme Monteiro, Noriko Ueda, Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf and John Di Martino.
The organization was founded in 1998 as the Nashville Jazz Institute by Lori Mechem and Roger Spencer, and opened with a handful of students. The program was based on a workshop model developed by Mechem and Spencer growing out of their dissatisfaction with traditional academic jazz education. The workshop model is based on a journeyman/apprentice approach.
The club’s number is 615-242-5299. For more information on days and time of sets visit https://notoriousjazz.com/event/lizzie-thomas.
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