Requisites
The Young Bloods ~ Phil Woods and Donald Byrd | By Eddie Carter
This morning’s choice from the library brings together two of my favorite musicians for a quintet jam session, Phil Woods and Donald Byrd. The Young Bloods (Prestige LP 7080) is a 1957 release reuniting altoist Phil Woods, trumpeter Donald Byrd and bassist Teddy Kotick who appeared together on Jazz For The Carriage Trade a year earlier. Al Haig on piano and Charlie Persip on drums round out the ensemble. My copy is the 2022 Analogue Productions US Mono Audiophile reissue (Prestige PRLP 7080).
The opener, Dewey Square by Charlie Parker, takes off right out of the gate with Haig’s introduction segueing into the ensemble’s melody. The song takes its title from the Harlem hotel where Parker and other musicians resided during the forties. Donald leads off with a cooking opening solo; then, Al continues swinging in the second reading. Phil blows up a storm with a lengthy statement, succeeded by Charlie’s enthusiastic exchange with the front line ahead of the climax. Dupeltook, the first of four from Phil Woods, begins with a danceable theme by the ensemble. Woods is up first and manages the opening statement efficiently. Byrd grabs us by the ears with an inspired improvisation, then Haig hits a scintillating groove. Persip, Woods, and Byrd share a final conversation leading to the ending.
Once More, a relaxing blues by Woods opens with the front line moving in unison on the melody. Phil leads off with a marvelous opening reading. Donald delivers a pleasant presentation of sheer enjoyment; next, Al says some exciting things in his statement. Teddy walks a few bass lines toward the quintet’s theme reprise and climax. House of Chan is Woods’ dedication to his wife, Chan Parker, who initially was the common-law wife of Charlie Parker. The horns establish the medium theme together; Woods gets a good thing going in the opening statement. Byrd takes a few fine choruses in the second solo. Haig responds with a gorgeous bounce in the third reading, and Persip wraps it up in a brief exchange with Woods and Byrd preceding the group’s exit.
Phil’s final tune is In Walked George, named for pianist George Wallington. The front line sets the stage for the ensemble’s collective melody. Byrd takes the opening solo with a delightful interpretation, and woods follows with a statement as light as a fall breeze. Al puts the joyously cheerful exclamation point on the song ahead of the closing chorus and climax. Lover Man, by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and James Sherman, receives a warm tribute by the quintet. Al opens the standard with a tender introduction segueing into a lovely melody and lead solo by Phil that takes your breath away. Donald expresses care and thoughtfulness in the second reading, followed by Al, who delivers a delicately graceful finale before the ensemble takes the song out softly.
Bob Weinstock supervised the initial recording of The Young Bloods, and Rudy Van Gelder was behind the dials. Kevin Gray mastered this audiophile reissue, and the sound quality is fantastic. The musicians emerge from your speakers with superb clarity. The record is 180 grams of audiophile vinyl that’s silent until the music starts, and the album jacket has a high gloss worthy of displaying on the wall. The Young Bloods is an excellent album that one can enjoy any time of the day or evening. If you’re looking for a great Hard-Bop album and are a fan of Phil Woods and Donald Byrd, The Young Bloods is a title you should seriously consider for a spot in your library!
~ Lover Man – Source: JazzStandards.com © 2023 by Edward Thomas Carter
More Posts: choice,classic,collectible,collector,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone,trumpet
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
André Hodeir was born January 22, 1921 in Paris, France and trained as a classical violinist and composer. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he was taught by Olivier Messiaen and won first prizes in fugue, harmony, and music history. While pursuing these studies he discovered jazz and various music forms besides jazz and classical. He recorded on violin under the pseudonym Claude Laurence.
In 1954 he was a founder and director of Jazz Groupe de Paris, which included Bobby Jaspar, Pierre Michelot and Nat Peck. In 1957, at the invitation of Ozzie Cadena of Savoy Records, he recorded an album of his compositions with Donald Byrd, Idrees Sulieman, Frank Rehak, Hal McKusick, Eddie Costa, George Duvivier, and Annie Ross.
In addition to two books of Essais (1954 and 1956), he wrote film scores, including Le Palais Idéal by Ado Kyrou for the film Chutes de pierres, danger de mort by Michel Fano, and Brigitte Bardot’s Une Parisienne.
He founded an orchestra during the Sixties and composed a work based on the Anna Livia Plurabelle story from the novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. Violinist, composer, arranger and musicologist André Hodeir transitioned on November 1, 2011.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,musicologist,violin
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bruce Willmarth Squires was born on January 21, 1910 in Berkeley, California. From 1935 to 1937 he was a member of the Ben Pollack band. As The Dean and His Kids, they recorded Spreadin’ Knowledge Around/Zoom Zoom Zoom on the Vocalion label in 1936.
Following this Bruce worked with Jimmy Dorsey for a year in 1937, Gene Krupa the following year, Benny Goodman in 1939, and Harry James from 1939 to 1940. From 1940 for the next two years he worked with Freddie Slack and Bob Crosby.
After World War II he was a studio musician and worked in music for the next three decades. Trombonist Bruce Squires, who primarily performed in the swing genre, transitioned on May 8, 1981 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
The Orphan Who Became Malta’s Jazz Star
Some jazz stories follow a straight line from struggle to success. Juice Wilson’s story? It’s a globe-spanning odyssey that most musicians couldn’t dream up if they tried.
A Child Finding His Voice Through Music
Born January 21, 1904, Wilson was orphaned young and raised by his uncle in Chicago from age three. In a city that could be brutally indifferent to a child without parents, music became his lifeline, his identity, his way forward.
He started on drums with the Chicago Militia Boys Band, then switched to violin at eight—an instrument that would eventually carry him around the world. By twelve, he was already gigging professionally with bandleader Jimmy Wade. At fourteen, he was playing alongside the legendary cornetist Freddie Keppard, one of New Orleans’ pioneering jazz voices.
This wasn’t just prodigious talent—this was a kid who had to grow up fast, and music was both his emotional escape and his economic future.
Building His Reputation, City by City
The 1920s found Wilson working Great Lakes steamboats (those floating conservatories where so many musicians learned their craft), doing residencies with trombonist Jimmy Harrison in Ohio, playing in Erie with pianist Hersal Brassfield, then moving to Buffalo to work with bandleader Eugene Primus and even the Buffalo Junior Symphony Orchestra.
He was building his chops, city by city, gig by gig, learning to navigate both the world of jazz and the world of classical music—a versatility that would serve him well in the years ahead.
New York, Then the World
In 1928, Wilson made the inevitable move to New York City, where he played the legendary Savoy Ballroom with Lloyd Scott’s orchestra—the big time, the room where reputations were made and broken nightly.
But then something remarkable happened: at decade’s end, Wilson toured Europe with Noble Sissle’s celebrated orchestra and made a decision that would define the rest of his life—he decided to stay abroad.
A European Adventure
What followed reads like an adventure novel. Wilson worked in Holland with bandleaders Ed Swayzee and Leon Abbey, performed with the Utica Jubilee Singers, joined the Louis Douglass Revue, played with Little Mike McKendrick’s International Band, and worked with Tom Chase’s ensemble. He traveled to Spain and North Africa, soaking up sounds, languages, and cultures that most American jazz musicians would never experience firsthand.
He was bringing American jazz to audiences who’d only heard it on scratchy recordings, if at all. And he was absorbing Mediterranean and North African musical traditions in return, creating his own unique fusion.
Finding Home in Malta
perhaps Malta discovered him. Wilson became a beloved figure on the sun-drenched Mediterranean island, working throughout the 1940s and 1950s as a multi-instrumentalist and entertainer. He made the island his home base while continuing to tour the region, becoming a bridge between American jazz and European audiences.
Full Circle
Wilson finally returned to the United States in the 1960s, bringing with him decades of stories, experiences, and musical adventures that few of his American contemporaries could match.
A Life Well Traveled
Think about that journey: from an orphaned child in Chicago to a beloved musician on a Mediterranean island halfway around the world, carrying American jazz to corners of the globe that rarely heard it performed live. When Juice Wilson died peacefully on May 22, 1993, he left behind a life that proves jazz was always meant to be a universal language—you just had to be brave enough to speak it anywhere, to anyone who would listen.
Some musicians stay in one city their whole lives, perfecting their craft in familiar surroundings. Juice Wilson chose the harder path—and became living proof that home isn’t where you’re born, but where your music is welcomed and celebrated.
More Posts: violin
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Connie Haines was born Yvonne Marie Antoinette Jasme on January 20, 1921 in Savannah, Georgia. She began performing at age four as a singer in Pick Malone’s Saucy Baby Show in her hometown and by age 9 had a regular radio show performing as Baby Yvonne Marie, the Little Princess of the Air. Her professional debut in New York City came at the Roxy Theatre when she was 14.
After gaining regional successes and winning the Major Bowes contest, she was hired by Harry James, who asked her to change her name. She did and went on to become the lead singer on The Abbott and Costello Show from 1942 to 1946. She later joined Tommy Dorsey, and Haines credited him with further developing her style.
In the early 1950s, Haines had a program, Connie Haines Entertains, did a television show with Frankie Laine, and had her own TV program, the Connie Haines Show. During this period she joined Jane Russell, Beryl Davis and Della Russell to do an impromptu performance of the spiritual Do Lord which led to a recording contract, gospel recordings and appearances of The Colgate Comedy Hour and the Arthur Murray program on television
She became part of Motown Records in 1965 becoming one of the first white singers to record for the label. She recorded 14 songs written by Smokey Robinson, including her 1965 release What’s Easy For Two Is Hard For One previously recorded by Mary Wells, and the first version of For Once in My Life, which wasn’t released until 2015.
In 1969, Haines became hostess of the Prize Movie weekday broadcast on Channel 7 in San Francisco, California. In 1980, she performed on “G.I. Jive,” a television musical special produced by PBS for its fundraising drive. Vocalist Connie Haines, who performed in a number of films, transitioned of myasthenia gravis on September 22, 2008 at age 87.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal