The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The pandemic rages on as I continue to keep myself well by wearing my mask and social distancing. In my own space I pull down from the shelves my copy of Kenny Drew Trio. The album was recorded on September 20 & 26, 1956 at the Reeves Sound Studios in New York City. It was produced by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer and was released the same year on the Riverside Records label.
The album features Drew’s tribute to jazz patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter Blues for Nica. It is the only song he contributed to the album. This band was also the rhythm section the following year on sessions for John Coltrane that yielded Blue Train.
Track List | 42:55 Side One- Caravan (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Juan Tizol) ~ 4:56
- Come Rain Or Come Shine (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) ~ 6:08
- Ruby, My Dear (Thelonious Monk) ~ 5:46
- Weird~O (Hank Mobley) ~ 4:04
- Taking A Chance On Love (Vernon Duke, John Latouche, Ted Fetter) ~ 4:42
- When You Wish Upon A Star (Leigh Harline, Ned Washington) ~ 5:19
- Blues For Nica (Kenny Drew) ~ 5:31
- It’s Only A Paper Moon (Harold Arlen, E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, Billy Rose) ~ 6:25
- Kenny Drew ~ piano
- Paul Chambers – bass
- Philly Joe Jones – drums
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Spencer Williams was born on October 14, 1889 in New Orleans, Louisiana and was educated at St. Charles University in his hometown. Performing in Chicago, Illinois by 1907, he moved to New York City about 1916 where he co-wrote several songs with Anton Lada of the Louisiana Five. Among those songs was Basin Street Blues, which became one of his most popular songs and is still recorded by musicians to this day.
Touring Europe with bands from 1925 to 1928, during this time he wrote for Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Returning to New York City for a few years, at the end of the Roaring Twenties, Williams was tried but then acquitted on a charge of murder. In 1932, he was back in Europe where he spent many years in London, England before moving to Stockholm in 1951.
A prolific composer, some of Spencer’s compositions that became hit songs were Basin Street Blues, I Ain’t Got Nobody, Royal Garden Blues, Mahogany Hall Stomp, I’ve Found a New Baby, Tishomingo Blues and Everybody Loves My Baby, among numerous others.
Returning once again to New York City in 1957, pianist, composer, vocalist and bandleader Spencer Williams, was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He passed away on July 14, 1965 in Flushing, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Geoff Simkins was born on October 13, 1948 in London Borough of Ealing, England. He started playing jazz in his early teens and his first instrument was drums, but he quickly changed to the alto saxophone.
In 1977 Geoff turned professional and his early work included time with the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra and the Temperance Seven. His principal stylistic influences have been the altoist Lee Konitz and tenor saxman Warne Marsh.
Simkins has played at concerts, clubs and festivals in all parts of the UK, in Europe and beyond. Often working with visiting American musicians his list has included Art Farmer, Bobby Shew, Al Cohn, Tal Farlow, Slide Hampton, Warren Vache, Al Grey, Howard Alden, Ruby Braff, Bill Coleman and Conte Candoli, among others. He has recorded with UK tenor saxophonist Danny Moss and US trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Yank Lawson. Since the 1980s he has worked regularly with UK guitarist Dave Cliff.
As an educator Geoff is a respected teacher, and runs improvisation courses in Brighton, UK. He has been a regular tutor at the famous Glamorgan Jazz Summer School in Wales before moving it to Trinity College of Music in London. Since 2012 he has taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
Alto saxophonist Geoff Simkins, who has recorded as a leader also eight albums as a sideman with Nikki Iies, Dave Cliff, Allan Ganley and Howard Alden, continues to perform, record and teach.
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Three Wishes
Butch Warren responded to the Baroness’s inquiry as to his three wishes if he were given them by saying:
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- “I don’t know. I don’t have nothing to wish for.”
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hidehiko “Sleepy” Matsumoto (松本英彦) was born on October 12, 1926 in Okayama, Japan. He attended Fuchu High School where he learned the saxophone followed by matriculation through the University of Electro-Communications.
In the late 1940s he played bebop in Japan with the group CB Nine, then joined The Six Josés and The Big Four, a group which included George Kawaguchi, Hachidai Nakamura, and Mitsuru Ono.
In 1959 he became a member of Hideo Shiraki’s small ensemble, and played with Gerald Wilson at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival and Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1964. Starting in 1964 Hidehiko led his own ensembles, which included sidemen Takeshi Inomata, Akira Miyazawa, George Otsuka, and Isao Suzuki.
On July 22 and 24, 1966, he played with the John Coltrane quintet in Tokyo, Japan while the group toured Japan. Tenor saxophonist and bandleader Hidehiko “Sleepy” Matsumoto passed away on February 29, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.
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