The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
This week while maintaining social distancing and continued mask wearing I’ve selected the 1974 album Skylark saxophonist Paul Desmond featuring Gábor Szabó. It was recorded on November 27~28 and December 4, 1973 at Van Gelder Sturio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The recording engineer was Rudy Van Gelder, the producer was Creed Taylor, and Don Sebesky wrote all the arrangements. It was released in 1974 on Taylor’s CTI label.
Desmond adapted to the changing times music was facing as did Taylor with his innovative photography used as his covers injected a sense of adventure, a bit of fantasy and a freedom that the 1970s exuded. It’s a change of pace for the saxophonist and a welcomed addition to the label’s stable.
Tracks |53:28- Take Ten (Paul Desmond) ~ 6:08
- Romance De Amor (Traditional) ~ 9:40
- Was A Sunny Day (Paul Simon) ~ 4:52
- Music For A While (Henry Purcell) ~ 6:45
- Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer) ~ 5:21
- Indian Summer (Al Dubin, Victor Herbert) ~ 4:00
- Music For A While [alternate take] (Purcell) ~ 5:56
- Skylark” [alternate take] (Carmichael, Mercer) ~ 5:39
- Indian Summer” [alternate take] (Dubin, Herbert) ~ 5:27
- Paul Desmond ~ alto saxophone
- Bob James ~ piano, electric piano
- Gene Bertoncini ~ guitar
- Gábor Szabó ~ guitar (all solos)
- Ron Carter ~ bass
- Jack DeJohnette ~ drums
- Ralph MacDonald ~ percussion
- George Ricci ~ cello
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Whitecage was born on June 4, 1937 in Litchfield, Connecticut and began playing in his father’s family ensemble as early as age six. In his youth he listened a lot to Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Lester Young and Stan Getz. He moved to New York City in the 1970s and was loosely associated with the loft scene with INTERface, a quartet with clarinetist Perry Robinson, bassist John Shea and pianist John Fischer. Fortune smiled and he met Gunter Hampel and ong tours with Hampel’s Galaxie Dream Band became a way of life, which helped him to build up a network outside the US.
In the 1980s, he played with Gunter Hampel’s Galaxy Dream Band, Jeanne Lee, and Saheb Sarbib. After touring solo in Europe in 1986, he put together two bands as a leader, Liquid Time and the Glass House Ensemble. By the Nineties he was releasing his first album with Liquid Time which was chosen by Cadence Magazine as one of the year’s best albums.
He worked in the Improvisers Collective from 1994, and began releasing albums on CIMP in 1996. Late in the decade he worked with Anthony Braxton, including in performances of Braxton’s opera, Trillium R. He also played with William Parker, Perry Robinson, Joe Fonda, Dominic Duval, Joe McPhee, Steve Swell, Richie “Shakin'” Nagan and Sikiru Adepoju.
His marriage to clarinetist Rozanne Levine led to him performing together with Perry Robinson in a trio called Crystal Clarinets. Alto saxophonist and clarinetist Mark Whitecage, who recorded fifteen albums as a leader and another 60 as a sideman, transitioned on March 7, 2021.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Alan Beirach was born on May 23, 1947 in New York City, New York and initially studied both classical music and jazz. While still attending high school, he took lessons from pianist Lennie Tristano. He later studied at the Berklee College of Music, however, after one year he left and began attending the Manhattan School of Music. While there, he studied with Ludmilla Ulehla.
In 1972, graduating from the Manhattan School of Music he took with him a Master’s Degree in Music Theory and Composition. Beirach’s style is influenced by Art Tatum, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea along with his earlier classical training and many touches of his individualism all its own.
He recorded 57 albums as a leader and as a sideman with George Adams, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Chet Baker, Dave Liebman, Jeremy Steig, Steve Davis, Laurie Antonioli, and the Ron McClure Trio he recorded 17. Pianist and composer Richie Beirach continues to perform, compose and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Denzil DaCosta Best was born April 27, 1917 in New York City, New York into a musical Caribbean family originally from Barbados. Trained on piano, trumpet, and bass, he concentrated on the drums starting in 1943. Between the years 1943 and 1946 he worked with Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet and Chubby Jackson.
Known to sit in at Minton’s Playhouse, he took part in a recording with George Shearing in 1948 and was a founding member of his Quartet, remaining there until 1952. In 1949, he stepped out to play on a recording session with Lennie Tristano for Capitol Records and recorded later with Lee Konitz.
In 1953 a car accident fractured both legs and Best was forced into temporary retirement until 1954. His comeback had him playing with Artie Shaw, and then in a trio with Erroll Garner (1955–57), including Garner’s live album Concert by the Sea. He went on to play with Phineas Newborn, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Tyree Glenn. 1962 saw him in the drummer’s seat on Shiela Jordan’s first album Portrait of Sheila.
Best composed several bebop tunes, including Move, Wee, Nothing But D. Best, and Dee Dee’s Dance. With Thelonious Monk he composed Bemsha Swing and his composition 45 Degree Angle was recorded by Herbie Nichols and Mary Lou Williams.
Suffering from paralysis after the Jordan recording session, drummer, percussionist and composer Denzil Best, who was a prominent bebop drummer in the 1950s and early 1960s, transitioned after falling down a staircase in a New York City subway station at the age of 48 on May 24, 1965.
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
My choice this week is the album No Problem by the Chet Baker Quartet featuring Duke Jordan. The album was produced by Nils Winther, recorded at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark on October 2, 1979 and released the following year on the Steeplechase label. The recording engineers were Freddy Hansson and Thomas Brekling, with Tom West holding down the assisting engineer role.
This session came during Baker’s resurgence from losing his embouchure from a beating that broke his tooth, more than likely related to an attempted drug buy, though the story is a bit hazy. After getting dentures he developed a new embouchure in the Seventies and began a more mellow and wavering playing style. There’s always his signature vocals present during this period in his career.
Track List | 51:19 All compositions by Duke Jordan- No Problem ~ 9:45
- Sultry Eve ~ 7:04
- Glad I Met Pat ~ 5:08
- Kiss of Spain ~ 7:15
- The Fuzz ~ 6:05
- My Queen Is Home to Stay ~ 7:13
- Jealous Blues ~ 8:48 (Bonus Track On CD)
- Chet Baker ~ trumpet
- Duke Jordan ~ piano
- Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen ~ bass
- Norman Fearrington ~ drums
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