The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The pandemic has me comfortably relaxing in my listening room selecting my next choice which is the 1956 album Playboys by trumpeter Chet Baker and saxophonist Art Pepper. The album was their third collaboration between Pepper and Baker, following the successes of The Route and Chet Baker Big Band, all three recorded in 1956.
Playboys was reissued in 1961 under the name Picture of Heath after the fifth track (itself a reference to Jimmy Heath, composer of all but two of the tracks). The tracks themselves were presented in a slightly different order, starting with the new title track.
Hugh Hefner reportedly objected to the original album cover (clearly inspired by Playboy magazine with its near-identical wordmark and pinup photo) and threatened to sue. For Picture of Heath, the original cover was replaced with a photo of the artists in the recording studio.
The 1990 Blue Note/Pacific Jazz CD reissue of Playboys used the pin-up cover, but the same label’s 1998 CD reissue returned to the Picture of Health cover.
Track Listing | 40:07 All compositions by Jimmy Heath except as indicated- For Minors Only ~ 4:00
- Minor~Yours (Art Pepper) ~ 6:44
- Resonant Emotions ~ 5:41
- Tynan Tyme (Pepper) ~ 5:32
- Picture of Heath ~ 6:44
- For Miles and Miles ~ 6:25
- C.T.A. ~ 5:12
1998 CD Release
- Picture of Heath
- For Miles and Miles
- C.T.A.
- For Minors Only
- Minor Yours
- Resonant Emotions
- Tynan Tyme
- Chet Baker ~ trumpet
- Art Pepper ~ alto saxophone
- Phil Urso ~ tenor saxophone
- Carl Perkins ~ piano
- Curtis Counce ~ bass
- Larance Marable ~ drums
More Posts: adventure,album,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,saxophone,travel,trumpet
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lou Stein was born on April 22, 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and joined Ray McKinley’s band in 1942. He played with Glenn Miller when the latter was stateside during World War II.
After the war he worked with Charlie Ventura from 1946 to 1947 and became a session musician. He performed with the Lawson-Haggart Band, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughan, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Louie Bellson, Red Allen, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young.
Recording as a bandleader, in 1957 he had a U.S. Top 40 hit with Almost Paradise, as well as a Top 60 hit with his cover version of Got a Match the following year. From 1969 to 1972 he played with Joe Venuti.
Pianist Lou Stein passed away on December 11, 2002.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John G. Blowers Jr. was born April 21, 1911 in Spartanburg, South Carolina and learned to play percussion during his schooldays and began performing with the Bob Pope Band in 1936.
After attending Oglethorpe College, in 1937 he travelled to New York City, where he found employment as a drummer in Greenwich Village. In 1938 he joined Bunny Berigan’s band, and in 1942 he began performing with the up-and-coming Frank Sinatra, who asked Johnny to record with him. They performed and recorded together regularly until the 1950s.
In 1947, he opened Club Blowers in the Queens district. In addition to Sinatra, Blowers performed with Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Sidney Bechet, Eddie Fisher, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, and Mel Tormé.
Johnny Blowers, drummer of the swing era, passed away on July 17, 2006.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Three Wishes
When asked Quentin “Butter” Jackson told the Baroness his three wishes were:
- “Peace, happiness, and contentment.”
- “To play some kind of music as long as I live.”
- “That all people of the world would learn to live peaceably among one another, so that there would be nothing but love on the planet.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
More Posts: baroness,history,instrumental,jazz,music,pannonica,three,trombone,wishes
Daily Dose Of Jaz…
Cyril Laurie was born on April 20, 1926 in London, England of Latvian/Jewish immigrant stock. A self-taught clarinetist he put together a band in 1947. George Melly debuted in this ensemble in 1948. He played with Mike Daniels in 1949-50 and led the Cy Laurie Four in 1950 with Fred Hunt and Les Jowett.
He ran his own club in Windmill Street, Soho, London from 1951 and headed a seven-member ensemble with Chris Barber, Alan Elsdon, Al Fairweather, Graham Stewart and Colin Smith. Cy Laurie’s Club was in a basement in Ham Yard in Great Windmill Street, opposite the Windmill Theatre.
Quitting music from 1960 to 1968, he travelled to India to study meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Returning in 1968 to lead another ensemble at the end of the decade his career saw a resurgence late in the 1970s. He toured in ensembles as a soloist and sometimes led his own groups. Cy played with Eggy Ley and Max Collie in the 1980s. He continued performing into the 1990s. In 1996 to celebrate his 70th birthday he put together a celebratory reunion gig at London’s 100 Club.
Clarinetist Cy Laurie, who was a leading figure in the post 1945 Trad Jazz boom in the UK, passed away on April 18, 2002 at the age of 75 in Stapleford Abbotts, Essex, England.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music