The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

As the Delta variant continues to ravage the country in another wave of rising illness and once again full hospitals, for those of us remaining vigilant I offer you listeners a classic album Bud Powell in Paris. This studio album was produced by Duke Ellington and released in 1964 for Reprise Records.

On this album recorded in Paris, France in February 1963, Leonard Feather wrote the liner notes, the cover painting was done by Donald Leake and digital mastering was performed by Lee Herschberg.

1. How High the Moon (Morgan Lewis, Nancy Hamilton) ~ 3:54
2. Dear Old Stockholm (Traditional) ~ 3:53
3. Body and Soul (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton) ~ 6:05
4. Jor-Du” (Duke Jordan) ~ 4:18
5. Reets and I (Benny Harris) ~ 3:43
6. Satin Doll (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Mercer) ~ 4:45
7. Parisian Thoroughfare (Bud Powell) ~ 1:56
8. I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin) ~ 5:40
9. Little Benny (aka Bud’s Bubble) (Harris) ~ 3:31

Personnel

• Bud Powell ~ piano
• Gilbert Rovere ~ bass
• Kansas Fields ~ drums

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Remaining vigilant, being healthy, social distancing as those in our nation who continue to navigate positively and negatively through this pandemic.

This week the album I’m recommending for listening is The Young Lions by Lee Morgan leading an ad hoc group of musicians who made up the septet for this recording. It was recorded on April 25, 1960 at the Bell Sound Studios in New York City and was produced by Sid McCoy. The album was released in 1961 on Vee~Jay Records.

The album title echoes that of a popular 1948 novel by Irwin Shaw which had been made into a feature film shortly before the album was recorded. The young lions who made the music on this album have varied musical philosophies and sundry jazz backgrounds.

The young lions phrase was revived in jazz in the 1980s when, as in 1960, there was a tension between the modern jazz traditionalists and the avant-garde.

1. Seeds of Sin (Shorter) ~ 5:44
2. Scourn’ (Shorter) ~ 5:58
3. Fat Lady (Shorter) ~ 5:03
4. Peaches and Cream (Shorter) ~ 6:52
5. That’s Right (Morgan) ~ 11:37

• Lee Morgan – trumpet
• Wayne Shorter – tenor sax
• Frank Strozier – alto sax
• Bobby Timmons – piano
• Bob Cranshaw – bass
• Albert “Tootie” Heath (3-5, 8) drums
• Louis Hayes (1, 2, 6, 7) – drums

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

As the pandemic wages on, rising numbers amongst the unvaccinated, the unmasked and the ignorant threaten the spread to the vaccinated and the children, while once again filling our hospitals. I cringe to think of the children who are going to be forced back to school without a vaccine. I’ve personally had a vaccinated friend who tested positive while working at a day camp with exposed children. Camp was shut down immediately, friend is fine but the Delta variant is highly contagious, like chicken pox. Be vigilant and stay safe.

With that in mind, I am pulling out the classic Song for My Father, the hard bop album by the Horace Silver Quintet, inspired by a trip that Silver made to Brazil. The songs were recorded at Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey by two different ensembles over two sessions ~ 3,6 on October 31, 1963 and 1,2,4,5 on October 26, 1964. Produced by Alfred Lion, it was released on the Blue Note record label in January, 1965.

The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver’s father, John Tavares Silver, to whom the title composition is dedicated. The title track, Song for My Father, is the leader’s most recognized composition, blending his native Cape Verdean folk music with bossa nova.

1. Song for My Father ~ 7:17
2. The Natives Are Restless Tonight ~ 6:09
3. Calcutta Cutie ~ 8:31
4. Que Pasa ~ 7:47
5. The Kicker (Joe Henderson) ~ 5:26
6. Lonely Woman ~ 7:02

• Horace Silver ~ piano
• Carmell Jones ~ trumpet (2, 5 solo | 1, 4 ensemble)
• Joe Henderson ~ tenor saxophone (1,2,4,5)
• Teddy Smith ~ bass (1,2,4,5)
• Roger Humphries ~ drums (1,2,4,5)
• Blue Mitchell ~ trumpet (3, ensemble)
• Junior Cook ~ tenor saxophone (3, ensemble)
• Gene Taylor ~ bass (3,6)
• Roy Brooks ~ drums (3,6)

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Requisites

The Festival Album ~ The Jazz Crusaders | By Eddie Carter 

This morning’s discussion is a 1966 live album by four friends from Houston, Texas who began performing locally in 1956. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, they became The Jazz Crusaders, one of the best West Coast jazz groups. I became a fan of their music listening to Chuck Lansing of Cleveland’s jazz station, WCUY 92.3 FM. His opening theme was The Young Rabbits, taken from their second LP, Lookin’ Ahead (1962). The Festival Album (World Pacific Jazz ST-20115) contains two performances from The Pacific Jazz Festival and The Newport Jazz Festival. The quartet consists of Wayne Henderson on trombone, Wilton Felder on tenor sax, Joe Sample on piano, and Stix Hooper on drums.  Jimmy Bond (tracks: A1, A2) and Herbie Lewis (tracks: B1, B2) on bass, complete the group. My copy used in this report is the 1967 Stereo reissue (Pacific Jazz ST-20115).

Trance Dance by Kenny Cox opens Side One with a collective soulful theme.  Wayne goes first with a noteworthy contribution offering a relaxing informality.  Wynton follows with an excellent solo of his own, then Joe gives a spirited closing reading ahead of the ensemble’s reprise and ending. A Summer Madness is the collaborative creation of Sample, Henderson, and Felder.  Wayne leads the quintet on the mid-tempo melody, then entices the listener with a captivating first statement. Wilton builds a satisfying groove with inspired lines next. Joe unfolds the next reading with a mellow tone effortlessly, and Jimmy makes a brief remark into the finale and crowd’s ovation.

Henderson’s Young Rabbits is off to the races from the intensely hot opening notes of the melody. Felder takes the first solo at breakneck speed with electrically charged excitement. Sample steps up next for a high-octane statement. Stix provides an energetic interpretation leading to the vigorous ending. Sample’s Freedom Sound was the title tune of their debut album (1961).  The trio begins this midtempo swinger with a march-like introduction developing into the quintet’s theme. Felder takes the lead with a cheerfully, light-hearted reading. Henderson swings comfortably into the next statement, and Joe wraps the album with a leisurely-paced performance powered by Herbie and Stix’s excellent groundwork.

This was The Jazz Crusaders’ twelfth LP for World Pacific Jazz and Pacific Jazz Records. *They were extremely popular and well known on the West Coast, but their first trip to The Newport Jazz Festival was significant because it introduced them to a whole new group of fans and brought them to the attention of the New York City jazz clubs.  I only wish it would have been released as a two-record set with each festival highlighted on one LP.  The Festival Album was produced by Richard Bock, and the sound quality of each session is quite good with an exquisite soundstage.  For those fans that only know of The Crusaders’ music from the seventies and eighties, The Festival Album shows the group in excellent form live and gives a snapshot of the Hard-Bop sound they created when Jazz was their middle name!

~ *AllMusic Review by Thom Jarek – Source: AllMusic.com

~ Freedom Sound (Pacific Jazz PJ-27/ST-27), Lookin’ Ahead (Pacific Jazz PJ-43/ST-43) – Source: Discogs.com
© 2021 by Edward Thomas Carter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Andile Yenana was born on August 9, 1968 in King William’s Town, South Africa. His love of music was triggered at an early age and he grew up in a household where music was really loved. His father, Felix Thamsanqa Yenana, had a huge collection of music, ranging from jazz to Motown, and other forms of urban black music and this had a huge influence in his life.

Andile began music studies under Darius Brubeck at the University of Natal’s School of Jazz and Popular Music It was here that he became friends with saxophonist Zim Ngqawana and trumpeter Feya Faku.

Joining the Zim Ngqawana Quartet and worked with Zim on all five of his albums, including San Song recorded with Bjorn Ole Solburg and his Norwegian San Ensemble. He also worked on the Pan-African music project Mahube with saxophonist Steve Dyer and others. He has also worked as arranger for Sibongile Khumalo, Gloria Bosman and Suthukazi Arosi. In 2005 he was selected as the 2005 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz.

Pianist Andile Yenana, who made an indelible mark on the industry by switching from teaching to studying jazz, continues to perform and record.

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