Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ola Onabulé was born in Islington, London, England on March 30, 1964 and at the age of seven he was sent to Lagos, Nigeria, where he spent the next ten years in school. When he was seventeen he returned to the UK to study at Millfield School, then attended law school, almost completing a three-year degree before deciding to enroll at Middlesex Polytechnic for an arts degree. While studying, he began to perform in London clubs and venues, writing and performing his own material.

Onabulé’s career spans nearly two decades, releasing his music on his own label, Rugged Ram Records, after recording for Elektra and Warner Bros. His debut album, More Soul Than Sense, was released in 1995.

He has performed internationally, performed with Germany’s WDR Big Band and the SWR Big Band and appeared with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg in Potsdam for a concert. Ola has played the main stages of the Montreal Jazz Festival and Vancouver Jazz Festival. A return to Canada in 2010 he performed at Victoria Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the Edmonton Jazz Festival. His list of credits reads like a who’s who of bog bands and small combos and continues to grow.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Dave Douglas was born on March 24, 1963 in Montclair, New Jersey and grew up in the New York City area, attending Phillips Exeter Academy, a private high school in New Hampshire. He was introduced to jazz by his father and as a young teen was shown jazz theory and harmony by pianist Tommy Gallant. He began performing jazz as a trumpeter during his junior year in high school while on an abroad program in Barcelona, Spain. After graduating from high school in 1981, he studied at the Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, both located in Boston, Massachusetts.

A move to New York City in 1984 had him studying at New York University with Carmine Caruso, and finished a degree in music. Early gigs included the experimental rock band Dr. Nerve, Jack McDuff, Vincent Herring as well as street bands around New York City. He played with a variety of ensembles and came to the attention of the jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, Horace Silver, with whom he toured the US and Europe in 1987.

During the late 1980s, Douglas began playing with bands led by Don Byron, Tim Berne, Marty Ehrlich, Walter Thompson, and others in New York. He also played in the composer collectives Mosaic Sextet and New and Used.

Trumpeter, composer, and educator Dave Douglas has more than fifty recordings as a leader and over 500 published compositions. Has led and co-led quintets and sextets as well as electronic ensembles, won a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award, and received Grammy Award nominations. As a composer, has received several commissions from among others from the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Essen Philharmonie, The Library of Congress, Stanford University and Monash Art Ensemble, which premiered his chamber orchestra piece Fabliaux in 2014.

He has served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Centre in Canada, co-founded the Festival of New Trumpet Music in New York, serving as its director. He is on the faculty at the Mannes School of Music and is a guest coach for the Juilliard Jazz Composer’s Ensemble. In 2016, he accepted a four-year appointment as the artistic director of the Bergamo Jazz Festival.

In 2005 Douglas founded Greenleaf Music, a record label for his albums, sheet music, podcasts, as well as the music of other modern jazz musicians. Greenleaf has produced over 70 albums.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Woody Witt was born on March 16, 1969 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He started on the clarinet in fourth grade, switching his focus to saxophone the following year. Becoming a professional musician at the age of 16, he studied at the University of Houston, earning a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.

The tenorist has recorded over thirty compact discs as a sideman and recorded twelve sessions as a leader. He has collaborated with Randy Brecker, Tim Hagans, Jim Rotondi, James Moody, David Liebman, Tim Armacost,Conrad Herwig, Joe LoCascio, Larry Ham, Mark Levine, Louis Hayes, Adam Nussbaum, Billy Hart, Nancy King and Gabrielle Stravelli. He has worked with the Houston Symphony, and has been featured on major third-stream works that blend together jazz and classical music.

He won the 2010 Chamber Music America French American Cultural Exchange grant and the 2014 International Jazz Saxophone Competition in Taiwan. Since 1999 Woody has been the artistic director of Houston’s jazz club, Cezanne, and now owns the club.

As an educator Witt has taught at Houston Community College since 2000, is an Affiliate Artist at the University of Houston, and has conducted countless master classes and workshops throughout the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia.

Tenor saxophonist, composer and educator Woody Witt continues to expand his musical creativity.

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Requisites

I’ve Got A Woman ~ Jimmy McGriff | By Eddie Carter

This morning’s subject of discussion to begin March is a 1962 Soul-Jazz album by organist Jimmy McGriff who steps into the spotlight with his debut, I’ve Got A Woman (Sue Records LP 1012/LPST 1012). He would make quite an impression on the jazz world in the early sixties. McGriff was twenty-six when he recorded it, and the title tune became his first of ten hits over the next three years. Accompanying him is his working trio at the time, Morris Dow on guitar and Jackie Mills on drums. The LP used in this report is a friend’s copy of the 1962 Mono deep groove release.

Side One kicks off with a rapid reworking of I’ve Got A Woman by Ray Charles. Jimmy takes flight on the song’s only solo with a vigorously spirited performance that sizzles to the rhythm section’s supplement into an enthusiastic fadeout.

On The Street Where You Live by Fredrick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner offers a subtle change of pace from the previous cooker. It was written in 1956 and featured in the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady that year, and also in the 1964 film version. McGriff steers clear of the pitfall of imitation on the melody and song’s only statement with a quaint and very charming reading preceding the climax. Satin Doll by Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, and Billy Strayhorn was written in 1953.  It’s one of Ellington’s most popular and recorded songs and is considered one of his best compositions in The Great American Songbook. Jimmy leads the threesome on the melody, then continues on a brief pretty solo. Morris delivers a short meaningful interlude with Jackie provides significant support into the ensemble’s climax.

Thelonious Monk is represented by the most famous of all his tunes, ‘Round Midnight was written in 1944 with Bernie Hanighen and Cootie Williams. It debuted on the album, Genius of Modern Music, Volume 1 (1952), and Miles Davis also recorded it under the title, Round About Midnight (1957). McGriff starts the song with a passionately majestic opening statement, then continues in that vein on a lead solo that’s the personification of elegance. Dow follows with a tender reading as affectionate as a loving embrace or kiss. McGriff returns for a final intimate thought culminating with a delightfully delicate finale. Jimmy’s original, All About My Girl expresses the highly elated and joyful feeling one has about that special woman in their life.  The organist opens with an exhilarating statement, and Morris gives with a scintillating reading before the upbeat reprise and coda.

Side Two starts with a medium tempo blues by McGriff, M.G. Blues possessing a sassy attitude that the leader states proficiently in the opening chorus and song’s only solo. It’s a fun tune that’s full of high spirits and enhanced by the rhythm section’s groovy groundwork. Jimmy’s That’s The Way I Feel establishes a sanctified rhythm on the melody that would be perfectly at home in that setting.  The trio begins the tune with an earthy, down-home flavor, then Jimmy swings hard on a short reading into the close. After Hours by Avery Parrish, Robert Bruce, and Buddy Feyne is the perfect blues for late-night listening. McGriff honors the 1946 jazz standard by reaching into the heart of the melody with a lengthy warm, affectionate performance that’s sure to bring tears to your eyes as the threesome disappears into nothingness.

Flying Home by Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Sid Robin was composed in 1939 during a cross-country flight while Hampton was a member of Goodman’s orchestra. Jimmy gives this ageless favorite a vigorously fast workout on the introduction, main theme, and opening statement.  Jackie makes a brief comment in his only reading before Jimmy catapults the closing chorus into a rousing finale. McGriff gives a nod to his friend Jimmy Smith with a rocking performance of The Sermon that Smith recorded with an all-star group four-years earlier and released in 1959. McGriff gets good and funky on the lead solo at a swifter speed than the original. Dow fuels the next reading with an energized performance that cooks into McGriff’s return to express a bit more joy before the ending theme trails off into a slow fade.

On the strength of three hits, I’ve Got A Woman, All About My Girl, and M.G. Blues, Jimmy recorded six more albums for Sue Records that ultimately produced seven more hits for the label, making a convincing argument for his reputation as a Soul-Jazz organist. The date was engineered by Irving Greenbaum, and produced by label co-owners, Henry “Juggy” Murray, Jr. and Bobby Robinson. The sound quality is not up to the engineering level by Roy DuNann, Jack Higgins, and Rudy Van Gelder. However, it’s good enough to crank up the volume because the music radiates an infectious enthusiasm and is fun to listen to. If your musical appetite is craving some soul-food for your ears, I offer for your consideration, I’ve Got A Woman by Jimmy McGriff. It’s an appetizing dish of finger-popping, toe-tapping jazz organ that’s worth seeking out on your next vinyl hunt!

~ Genius of Modern Music, Volume 1 (Blue Note BLP 5002), Round About Midnight (Columbia CL 949/CS 8649), The Sermon (Blue Note BLP 4011/BST 84011) – Source: Discogs.com ~ After Hours, Flying Home, ‘Round Midnight, Satin Doll – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ On The Street Where You Live – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2021 by Edward Thomas Carter

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Requisites

Flute Fever ~ The Jeremy Steig Quartet | By Eddie Carter

The word impossible as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “something that’s incapable of being or of occurring”. In the annals of music, some amazing musicians and vocalists have met the challenge of their disabilities head-on and in doing so, changed the word impossible to I’m possible instead! Jeremy Steig was an artist, graphic designer, and musician who began playing the flute at twelve and jazz at fifteen. At age nineteen, a motorcycle accident paralyzed one side of his face that might have ended his music career. It didn’t, because he used the paralysis within his mouth to blow air into the flute with the help of a special blinder-like mouthpiece that was placed inside his cheek, allowing him to play.

This morning’s album from my library is titled Flute Fever (Columbia CL 2136/CS 8936) by The Jeremy Steig Quartet. The other members are Denny Zeitlin on piano, Ben Tucker on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. An example of Jeremy’s artistic talent appears on the front cover. He also penned four drawings of the group on the back cover, and my copy used in this report is the 1964 Stereo LP.

Side One opens with Oleo by Sonny Rollins, he wrote it in 1954 and premiered it on the album, Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins. Jeremy and Tucker start the song as a duet with a strong rhythmic beat that takes off by leaps and bounds when Denny and Riley come in for the collective theme. Jeremy infuses the opening reading with zestful virtuosity as he vocalizes along on a vigorously swinging interpretation. Denny revs up the short and sweet closing statement with a soaring, exhilarating lyricism ahead of the leader’s ending theme and abrupt climax.

Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman was composed in 1941 for singer-songwriter Billie Holiday. The quartet’s rendition opens with Steig leading a delicately gentle melody. Zeitlin gives a very touching performance on the song’s only solo preceding the foursome’s haunting tenderness on the coda. Sadly, omitted from this version are two elegant performances by Steig and Tucker, and a well-deserved compliment from the engineer at the song’s end that appears on the CD-album.

What Is This Thing Called Love?The Cole Porter song from the 1930 Broadway musical, Wake Up and Dream takes the foursome back to uptempo.  After an effervescent melody, Jeremy begins with an exhilarating reading. Denny answers the flutist with an electrifying solo that excites intensely until the foursome’s coda. Miles Davis’ So What begins with Steig wailing on the opening, then continuing with a lengthy adrenaline rush of energy on the first interpretation. Zeitlin takes the next reading for a sizzling rollercoaster ride, then Tucker briskly walks on the closer.

The quartet takes on Thelonious Monk’sWell You Needn’t to begin Side Two.  Monk wrote the tune in 1944 and was going to name it after jazz vocalist, Charlie Beamon, who upon hearing that replied, “Well, you need not”.  The song starts at medium-fast speed for the quartet’s collective opening chorus.  Jeremy steps into the spotlight first, igniting his solo with the brightness of an incandescent sun.  Denny begins the final statement with no accompaniment for one chorus, before settling into a dazzling performance that’s a bebopper’s dream.

The beautiful 1932 song Willow Weep For Me by Ann Ronell is enchantingly rendered collectively with Jeremy’s flute conversing her lyrics daintily over a politely subdued supplement from the rhythm section. Denny contributes a brief interlude that’s beautifully constructed in between the opening and ending melodies by Jeremy culminating with a heart-warming finale. The LP ends with the album’s longest tune, Blue Seven by Sonny Rollins. The guys have fun right out of the gate with Steig and Tucker starting an easy-flowing duet that develops into a bluesy mid tempo opening chorus when Zeitlin and Riley join them.  Jeremy and Denny have the two lengthiest statements and both men provide two meticulous but playful performances that take no prisoners. Tucker lays down some new soil on the next reading with a laid-back lyricism shadowed closely by Riley who doesn’t solo but contributes some bouncy brushwork that’s infectiously light-hearted and complements the soloists very well.

Jeremy Steig is the son of cartoonist William Steig whose work appeared in the weekly magazine, The New Yorker. His father also created the character Shrek, and Jeremy played the role of The Pied Piper on flute for the film, Shrek Forever After (2010). His mother, Elizabeth Mead Steig is the head of the fine arts department at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He recorded with pianist Bill Evans on the album, What’s New (1969), a critical success for both musicians. Steig became even more successful in the jazz-rock fusion genre in the seventies, recording a total of twenty-two albums during his career.  Jeremy lived with his wife Asako in Japan and passed away from cancer at age seventy-three on April 13, 2016.

Pianist Denny Zeitlin, the lone survivor of the quartet, impressed producer John Hammond so much with his performance on Flute Fever, he also produced his debut album, Cathexis (1964). He recorded three more LP’s over the next three years, Carnival (1964), Shining Hour – Live at The Trident (1966), and Zeitgeist (1967). Denny recorded thirty-five albums over his five-decade career playing with some of the greatest names in jazz. He’s currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco, and also has a private practice there and in Marin County.

Bassist Ben Tucker has a very lengthy resume of the albums he appeared on and the musicians he played with. Ben worked with The Dave Bailey Quintet in 1961 and composed the song Comin’ Home Baby. It became a hit for Bailey on 2 Feet In The Gutter that year, and flutist Herbie Mann on Herbie Mann at The Village Gate (1962). Tucker owned two stations in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia, WSOK-AM and WLVH-FM. He passed away at age eighty-two in a traffic collision on June 4, 2013.

It might be easier to tell you who Ben Riley didn’t play with because his list of recordings is also enormous. He’s most known as the drummer in The Thelonious Monk Quartet.  He was also a member of The New York Quartet and in the group Sphere. He passed away on November 18, 2017, at the age of eighty-four.

The album was produced by John Hammond but does not offer any other information on the recording engineer. However, the sound quality is absolutely sensational with a superb soundstage that’s startingly clear from your speakers to your sweet spot. If you’re a fan of jazz flute, I submit for your consideration on your next vinyl hunt, Flute Fever by The Jeremy Steig Quartet. It’s one illness, you won’t mind catching and requires only one listen to make you feel much better!

~ Carnival (Columbia CL 2340/CS 9140); Cathexis (Columbia CL 2182/CS 8982); Herbie Mann at The Village Gate (Atlantic 1380/SD 1380); Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins (Prestige PRLP 187); Shining Hour – Live at The Trident (Columbia CL 2463/CS 9263); 2 Feet In The Gutter (Epic LA 16021/BA 17021); What’s New (Verve Records V6-8777); Zeitgeist (Columbia CL 2748/CS 9548) – Source: Discogs.com ~ Oleo, Well You Needn’t, What Is This Thing Called Love? – Source: JazzStandards.com

~ John Hammond, Ben Riley, Ann Ronell, Jeremy Steig, William Steig, Elizabeth Mead Steig, Ben Tucker, Denny Zeitlin – Source: Wikipedia.org

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