The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
It is up to you to protect yourself, your family, your friends against the Covid variants.
This week’s selection is taking us Up the Street, ‘Round the Corner, Down the Block to listen to a 1974 album by guitarist Kenny Burrell. He recorded tracks 2 & 4 in January 1974 at the Village Recorders in Los Angeles, California and tracks 1, 3, 5 & 6 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California in February. It was released later that same year on the Fantasy Records label.
There were two recording supervisors: Orrin Keepnews on tracks 2, 4, and Sam Russell on tracks 1, 3, 5, 6. The recording engineer was Bob Brown on tracks 2, 4, and Eddie Harris on tracks 1, 3, 5, 6. The remix engineer duties were also performed by Eddie Harris. The lacquer cut was by David Turner. The photography and design was done by Tony Lane,
Track List | 37:44 All compositions by Kenny Burrell except as indicated
- Up the Street, ‘Round the Corner, Down the Block (Onaje Allan Gumbs) ~ 7:18
- Afro Blue (Mongo Santamaría) ~ 5:40
- Sausalito Nights ~ 7:15
- Juice (Gumbs) ~ 5:40
- A Little Walking Music ~ 3:18
- Soulero (Richard Evans) ~ 9:13
- Kenny Burrell ~ guitar, whistling (track 5)
- Jerome Richardson ~ flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
- Richard Wyands ~ piano, electric piano
- Andy Simpkins ~ bass
- Lenny McBrowne ~ drums
- Mayuto Correa ~ percussion
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobo Stenson was born Bo Gustav Stenson on August 4, 1944 in Västerås, Sweden. Starting at the age of 8 he studied with Werner Wolf for 15 years. In 1963, he stepped up from the local scene in his hometown to begin playing frequently in Stockholm. There he accompanied a long line of visiting American players including Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Gary Burton. He worked closely with Don Cherry from the beginning of the trumpeter’s residency in Scandinavia.
The 1970s was an intensive period for Stenson, playing in many groups, amongst them the long-standing band Rena Rama with Palle Danielsson, and a trio with Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen. He would later work with Jan Garbarek.
In 1988, he joined the Charles Lloyd quartet and since 1996 has appeared at major jazz festivals with Tomasz Stańko’s septet/sextet. Pianist Bobo Stenson continues to perform to this day.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hamid Drake was born Henry Lawrence Drake on August 3, 1955 in Monroe, Louisiana but his family moved to Evanston, Illinois, when he was a child. There he started playing with local rock and R&B bands, which eventually brought him to the attention of Fred Anderson, an older saxophonist who had also moved to Evanston from Monroe as a child decades before. Drake worked with Anderson from 1974 to 2010 including on his 1979 The Missing Link.
At Anderson’s workshops, he met Douglas Ewart, George E. Lewis and other members of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Percussionist Ed Blackwell had a great influence on Drake, during this period. His flowing rhythmic expressions and interest in the roots of the music drew like-minded musicians together into a performance and educational collective named the Mandingo Griot Society, which combined traditional African music and narrative with distinctly American influences.
During the Seventies he met Don Cherry and with Adam Rudolph toured Europe and worked extensively with him from 1978 until Cherry’s death in 1995. It was during this period where they explored the interior landscape of percussion and shared deeply in Mr. Cherry’s grasp of music’s spiritually infinite transformational possibilities.
By the close of the 1990s, Hamid was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free jazz improvisers, performed world music and reggae during his career.
Drummer and percussionist Hamid Drake, who also plays the tabla, continues to perform.
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Three Wishes
Pannonica asked Richard Davis what his three wishes would be if they could be granted and he replied with:
- “Freedom for everybody.”
- “Mastery of the bass.”
- “It’s my hobby really to own a horse. These are the three basic things in my life.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Walker “Big Nick” Nicholas was born August 2, 1922 in Lansing, Michigan. Picking up the tenor saxophone during his teen years, he was strongly influenced by his hero, Coleman Hawkins. He started playing professionally during the 1940s with Hank and Thad Jones, Earl Hines, and Tiny Bradshaw prior to military service.
Once discharged from the Army late in the decade he went on to work with bands led by Sabby Lewis, J. C. Heard, and Lucky Millinder. He would go on to play with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, and Charlie Mingus.
Nicholas contributed the 16-bar solo to Dizzy Gillespie’s classic 1947 African-Cuban jazz composition Manteca. At that time, he also started playing with Hot Lips Page, a working relationship that continued until 1954. He then joined Buck Clayton in 1955.
Big Nick influenced a young John Coltrane to compose his tribute Big Nick, included on the 1962 album Duke Ellington & John Coltrane.
Saxophonist and singer Big Nick Nicholas transitioned from heart failure in Queens, New York on October 29, 1997 at the age of 75.
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