Requisites

Something Cool: June Christy established her reputation fronting the Stan Kenton Orchestra at the same time that Pete Rugolo was composing and arranging. Her voice was ideal for the high-art ambitions of the progressive jazz movement. Her diction was impeccable, her phrasing often inspired, and as this reissue of her classic Something Cool -augmented by another 12 tracks recorded between 1953 and 1955–so ably demonstrates, her technique was extraordinary, allowing her to navigate the most abstract melody with accurate pitch and rhythmic confidence.

Personnel: June Christy – vocals, composer, arranger and bandleader Pete Rugolo and His Orchestra

Record Date: 1953

Songs:  Something Cool, It Could Happen To You, Lonely House, This Time The Dreams On Me, The Night We Called It A Day, Midnight Sun, I’ll Take Romance, A Stranger Called The Blues, I Should Care, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, I’m Thrilled

(Re-mastered CD has the same songs both in Mono and Stereo)

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Jazz In Film

Wayward: This 1932 Paramount Productions drama about family intrigue brought on by a jealous mother-in-law was directed by Edward Sloman and starred Nancy Carroll, Richard Arlen and Pauline Frederick.

Taken from the novel Wild Beauty by Mateel Howe Farnham it features the song ”What’s the Difference”. Edward Heyman
 wrote 
the lyrics and the music composed by Johnny Green. The film also featured music by pianist Claude Hopkins and his Orchestra.

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The Complete Vee-Jay Recordings: The reissue of these 1959, 1960 and 1961 dates boasts thirty-nine tracks of some of jazz’s most famous songs by one of the idioms few male jazz singers. Though Henderson never made it big, he emerged onto the scene and recorded these compositions at the young age of 29 to 31. On these sessions he swings lightly while squeezing out honest emotion from his ballads.

Personnel: Bill Henderson – vocals, Ramsey Lewis & Tommy Flanagan – piano, Booker Little – trumpet, Yusef Lateef & Eddie Harris – tenor saxophone, MJT +3, Count Basie band & combos, and string orchestras.

Arranged by: Benny Golson, Frank Wess

Record Date: Volume I – October 26, 1959 – November 21, 1960 / Volume II – December 5, 1960 – April 4, 1961

Songs: Disc I – Bye Bye Blackbird, Joey Joey Joey, Free Spirits, Sweet Pumpkin, Love Locked Out, It Never Entered My Mind, My Funny Valentine, Moanin’, Bad Luck, The song Is You, This Little Girl Of Mine, You Make Me Feel So Young, Without You, Sleepy, I Go For That, Sleepy (alt. take) Kiss And Run, A Sleepin’ Bee

Disc II – Never Kiss And Run, A Sleepin’ Bee, Don’t Like Goodbyes, Old Country, Slowly, Opportunity, Never Will I Marry, My How The Time Goes By, Hooray For Love, Skylark, Royal Garden Blues, Twelfth Of Never, Love Is A Bug, Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered, The More I See You, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Ac-cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive, Yes Indeed, Please Send Me Someone To Love, Sweet Georgia Brown, Am I Blue

Each LP had two different covers – the one shown here and one shown in the video.

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Jazz In Film

Violer er blå(Violets are Blue) is a 1975 film made in Denmark and directed by Peter Refn. The movie made in Denmark stars Lisbet Lundquist, Annika Hoydal and Lisbet Dahl and is about a group of professional people unable to accept their roles in modern life.

Music Director Bent Fabricius Bjerre uses as source music two Duke Ellington small group recordings featuring Johnny Hodges plus Ben Webster playing How Long Has This Been Going On?

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The Last Concert: The Modern Jazz Quartet broke up after this concert documented on this two-fer, double LP recording. After a glorious 22-year career, it would be nearly seven years before the group would come back together but it certainly went out on top. Mostly revisiting their greatest hits, MJQ is heard playing inspired versions of Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Bag’s Groove, Skating In Central Park, Confirmation, The Golden Striker and Django. This set is a real gem and an essential addition for all serious jazz collections.

Personnel: Milt Jackson – vibraphone, John Lewis – piano, Percy Heath – bass and Connie Kay – drums

Record Date: November 25, 1974

Songs:  Disc 1 – Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise, The Cylinder, Summertime, Really True Blues, What’s New?, Blues in a Minor, Confirmation, ‘Round Midnight, A Night in Tunisia, Tears from the Children, Blues in H (B), England’s Carol

Disc 2 – The Golden Striker, One Never Knows, Trav’lin’, Skating in Central Park, The Legendary Profile, Adagio from the Guitar Concerto: Concerto de Aranjuez, The Jasmine Tree, In Memoriam, Django, Bag’s Groove

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