Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Arlt was born in Bünde, Westfalen, Germany on July 1, 1960 and began playing guitar as a teenager. From the beginning, he was interested in a musical gamut, playing in rock, blues, fusion, and free bands. Going to Boston, Massachusetts in the mid-Eighties, he studied at Berklee College of Music, took private lessons from Mike Metheny, and then continued his studies in the Netherlands at the Amsterdam Academy of Arts under Wim Overgaauw.
Since that time, Michael has performed in a variety of ensembles with musicians like Maria de Fatima, Jerry Granelli, Sigi Busch, Rick Hollander, Leszek Zadlo, Wolfgang Ekholt, Joris Teepe, Paquito D’Rivera, Herbert Joos, and Luciano Biondini. He has recorded with Roman Schwaller, Houston Person and Red Holloway. He founded his own trio and the group Brassless with who he recorded. With Don Kostelnik and Duck Scott he forms the organ trio We Three who recorded several albums.
Arlt has been a part of the Lemongrass and Weathertunes music projects, which were founded by the brothers Roland and Daniel Voss. Since the late 1990s, Arlt has been playing with Rick Hollander, in the trio of Reinette van Zijtveld and in a duo with Christian Eckert. As a lecturer, he has taught jazz guitar and harmony at the University of Music in Würzburg since 1990. Guitarist Michael Arlt continues to explore and perform in the genre. of modern jazz.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ken Hyder was born on June 29, 1946 in Dundee, Scotland. He began playing jazz in Scotland before moving south to London, England where he played at the legendary Little Theatre Club – an avant-garde haunt run by the late John Stevens.
For over 40 years Hyder has been playing and composing music and has produced more than three dozen albums of original material. He formed the group Talisker and recorded six albums with this pioneering and proto-type Celtic jazz group. He has recorded with Elton Dean, Chris Biscoe, Tim Hodgkinson, Paul Rogers, Maggie Nicols, Don Paterson, and Frankie Armstrong.
The 1970s saw him moving away from jazz and into collaborations with musicians from different musical backgrounds including Irish, South African and South American players. Later, he became interested in exploring spiritual aspects of music with spiritual practitioners like Tibetan and Japanese Buddhist monks, and Siberian shamans.
Ken combines folk, ethnic and Celtic music with jazz. He has worked and recorded with Dick Gaughan, Vladimir Rezitsky, Phil Minton, Lindsay L. Cooper, Sainkho Namtchylak, Jo’burg Hawk, Marcio Mattos, Jim Dvorak, John Edwards, Dave Webster, John Rangecroft, Radik Tyulyush, Julian Bahula, Lucky Ranku, Larry Stabbins, Harry Beckett, Art Themen, Gary Windo, Pete McPhail, Keith Tippett, Harry Miller, Nick Evans, Raymond Macdonald, Ntshuks Bonga, Hamish Henderson, Jon Dobie, and Lello Colombo.
Fusion drummer and percussionist Ken Hyder continues with his current projects that include K-Space, with Tim Hodgkinson and Gendos Chamzyryn; Hoots and Roots with Scottish singer Maggie Nicols; RealTime with z’ev, Andy Knight and Scipio; Raz3 with Hodgkinson and Lu Edmonds; A revived Talisker, with Nicols and Raymond MacDonald and a duo with pianist Vladimir Miller.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Naughton was born on June 25, 1944 in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied piano from the age of seven through his teens, playing in rock bands and lounge bands.
After serving in the U.S. Army, Naughton started playing organ with a blues band. Following this period he studied painting in art school, then in the 1960s vibraphone became his instrument in the 1960s he was accompanying Sheila Jordan and Perry Robinson.
In 1969 Bobby recorded for the first time, releasing music on his label, Otic, and five more through 2002 as a leader. He composed the score for the silent film Everyday by German artist Hans Richter. In 1972 he played in the Jazz Composers Orchestra. Beginning a year later working with Wadada Leo Smith he recorded several albums through the 1980s. From 1978 to 1982 he toured and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, the Creative Music Orchestra, and the Creative Improvisers Orchestra.
Vibraphonist Bobby Naughton, who plays fluently with four sticks, exploits the instrument’s overtones and sometimes controls manually the instrument’s vanes continues to perform and record.
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Requisites
Crazy! Baby ~ Jimmy Smith | By Eddie Carter
The Incredible Jimmy Smith steps into the spotlight for this morning’s discussion with his first release of the sixties and fifteenth of his career. Crazy! Baby (Blue Note BLP 4030) is a 1960 trio album featuring the organist’s bandmates, Quentin Warren on guitar, and Donald Bailey on drums. My copy used in this report is the 1966 Liberty Records Stereo reissue (BST 84030).
When Johnny Comes Marching Home, the album opener has been around since 1863 and the Civil War. I first heard the 45-rpm single of this song in 1962 and was blown away by the group’s musicianship. Quentin is up first after the ensemble’s introduction and marching theme for an opening statement that goes down smoothly and easily like chilled Chardonnay. Jimmy follows with one of his meatiest solos, nearly five-minutes of electrifying jazz preceding the out-chorus march and trio vanishing. Makin’ Whoopee by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson premiered in the 1928 Broadway musical, Whoopee! The trio eases into the wonderfully nostalgic theme and Smith executes a marvelous mellow interpretation with a stunning bass line using his left foot.
A Night In Tunisia by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli was first sung as a vocal by Sarah Vaughan under the title Interlude on the 1950 album, Hot Jazz. This 1942 Bebop classic is one of Gillespie’s most recorded tunes and the trio establishes the opening chorus made famous by Dizzy. Jimmy kicks off the lead solo with a riveting performance. Quentin closes with a funky statement matched by Donald’s rocking timekeeping propelling the trio into a thrilling coda.
Sonnymoon For Two is by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the composer introduced it on the 1957 album, A Night at The Village Vanguard. The group opens with a bluesy melody, then Warren dances and grooves on two short, but strong verses. Jimmy comes in next for some extensive wailing on the finale before the reprise and fadeout. Mack The Knife by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht made its debut in the 1928 German play, The Threepenny Opera. This jazz and pop evergreen is a showcase for Smith who does a superlative job illustrating the title character in a thoroughly satisfying performance.
Up next is the thoughtfully pensive ballad by Bob Haggart and Johnny Burke, What’s New? Smith starts with a delicately wistful melody, segueing into a melancholic one-sided interpretation reflecting on the love that’s now just a memory before ending his conversation in grand fashion. The album closes with Smith’s dedication to Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion, Alfredo. The trio flows vibrantly on the melody into Quentin soloing first with a leisurely, carefree swing that’ll get fingers snapping and toes tapping. Jimmy raises the temperature on a vivaciously brisk closing presentation taking no prisoners into the ending.
Rudy Van Gelder’s recording has a pleasant soundstage across the treble, midrange and bass spectrum resulting in sweet sounds emerging from your speakers that make this LP an easy choice to recommend for your library. If you’re a fan of jazz organ or are just discovering the music of Jimmy Smith, I submit for your consideration, Crazy! Baby. It’s a tasty combination of Hard-Bop and Soul-Jazz that once heard, you’ll want to replay repeatedly!
~ A Night at The Village Vanguard (Blue Note BLP 1581/BST 81581); Hot Jazz (Remington RLP-1024) – Source: Discogs.com ~ A Night In Tunisia, Mack The Knife, Makin’ Whoopee, What’s New? – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home – Source: Wikipedia.org ~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpKGKF7_XY ~ A Night In Tunisia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3c-564EE0o © 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter Synopsis
Crazy! Baby is an album by jazz organist Jimmy Smith with performances that were recorded on January 4, 1960 and released by Blue Note. This was the first album Smith recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Tracks | 37:08
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Traditional) – 7:58
- Makin’ Whoopee (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 4:57
- A Night in Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie) – 5:40
- Sonnymoon for Two (Sonny Rollins) – 7:15
- Mack the Knife (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 4:58
- What’s New? (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 3:50
- Alfredo (Jimmy Smith) – 4:30
- Jimmy Smith – organ
- Quentin Warren – guitar
- Donald Bailey – drums
- Alfred Lion – producer
- Rudy Van Gelder – engineer
- Reid Miles – design
- Bob Ganley – photography
- Leonard Feather – liner notes
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roberto Magris was born June 19, 1959 in Trieste, Italy. By the 1980s he was leading the jazz trio Gruppo Jazz Marca with whom he recorded three albums, Comunicazione Sonora, Aria di Città and Mitteleuropa. In 1987 he put together an Italian quartet that stayed together for nearly 20 years, touring Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America and recording two albums, Life in Israel and Maliblues.
In the 1990s he founded the acid-jazz groups DMA Urban Jazz Funk and Alfabeats Nu Jazz, performing in Europe and in America. In 1998 Magris formed the Europlane Orchestra that included several jazz musicians from various European countries. With the Europlane Orchestra he recorded three albums Live At Zooest, Plays Kurt Weill, and Current Views.
2005 saw Magris partnering with Hungarian saxophonist Tony Lakatos on the album Check-In in 2005 he went on to collaborate with bassist Art Davis and drummer Jimmy “Junebug” Jackson on the album Kansas City Outbound issued by JMood. That same year, he hooked up with alto saxophonist Herb Geller on the album Il Bello del Jazz and some years later, JMood released another album with Herb Geller titled An Evening with Herb Geller & The Roberto Magris Trio – Live in Europe 2009.
During his time in the United States, Magris has become the musical director of JMood and has also recorded two albums in tribute to the trumpeter Lee Morgan, two trio albums with Elisa Pruett and Albert “Tootie” Heath devoted to the music of pianist Elmo Hope, and another to the legacy of alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley.
While in Los Angeles, California he recorded with Idris Muhammad and saxmen Paul Carr and Michael O’Neill, one album with Sam Reed, a double CD set in tribute to the bebop era, three albums with his trio from Kansas City and performed with his sextet that included trumpeter Brian Lynch at the WDNA Jazz Gallery in Miami, Florida. In Chicago, Illinois he recorded with a group including trumpeter Eric Jacobson and tenor saxophonist Mark Colby.
His influences have been Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, Kenny Drew, Jaki Byard, Randy Weston, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Paul Bley, Don Pullen, and Steve Kuhn. He has recorded nearly three dozen albums as a leader or as a member of groups he has founded. Pianist, composer and arranger Roberto Magris continues to perform, record and tour.
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