Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luděk Hulan was born on October 11, 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia and started his career as a founder-member of the amateur Hootie Club ensemble in 1948. In the early Fifties he performed in various professional jazz ensembles and helped organize jam sessions in Prague. From 1953 to 1957 he moved to Brno and played double bass with the Gustav Brom Orchestra.
Upon his return to Prague he co-founded Studio 5, which later became a part of The Dance Orchestra of Czechoslovak Radio. Studio 5, one of the country’s most important modern jazz ensembles, disbanded in 1961. Then Hulan founded his next band, The Jazz Studio, which often performed his own short compositions. The late 1960s he still collaborated with the Jazz Orchestra of Czechoslovak Radio and actively participated in Czech musical life.
He was one of the pioneers of the Jazz and Poetry movement which focused on cross-connections between various spheres of the Arts. In his Jazz Studio, Luděk collaborated with many important jazz instrumentalists, among them tenor saxophonist Milan Ulrich and trumpeter Richard Kubernát.
Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 he emigrated to Switzerland, but couldn’t find any work connected with music and soon returned while his wife and daughter remained abroad. Listed as politically undesirable he had to organize night-time jam sessions in the poetic wine bar Viola, founded a new band, Jazz Sanatorium with former colleagues from Jazz Studio, and helped its younger members in their careers.
He also found work – occasional at first – with the Linha Singers ensemble. In 1972 the Traditional Jazz Studio invited him to record with the New Orleans clarinetist Albert Nicholas. He also performed with the American clarinetist Tony Scott, and prepared a TV series, The Jazz Herbarium. He then organized the Jazz Quiz as part of his Jazz Sanatorium, using American films, recordings and literature.
Double bassist Luděk Hulan, an important exponent of Czech jazz in the second half of the 20th century, transitioned in Prague on February 22, 1979 under unhappy circumstances, breaking a rib in a stairway fall which pierced a lung. Unaware of the nature or extent of his injury, he went to bed as usual, not to awaken.
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SNARKY PUPPY
Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental ensemble led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy Awards. The once Texan, now New York-based quasi-collective Snarky Puppy has gone from the best-kept secret to one of the most respected names in instrumental music.
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CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE QUARTET
Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner. This group was the original Joshua Redman touring quartet of the 1990s.
Christian McBride ~ Double Bass
Joshua Redman ~ Saxophone
Brad Mehldau ~ Piano
Brian Blade ~ Drums
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Requisites
Something For Lester ~ Ray Brown | Carl Anthony
This week I am standing in for our regular Requisites host and writer Eddie Carter, who is on an anniversary vacation. He will return next Sunday with another prolific review of an album for your collection.
This week I have selected Something for Lester, an album by bassist Ray Brown that was recorded on June 22, 23 & 24 1977 at Contemporary’s Studio in Los Angeles, California. The session was recorded in the bop and cool jazz genres and was released on the Contemporary label the following year.
The producers on the sessions were John Koenig and Lester Koenig. The photograph was taken by Bret Lopez, the design was provided by George Kershaw, with liner notes by Leonard Feather and the recording and sound was performed by the Koenig brothers and Roy DuNann.
Of the seven compositions presented here by the trio, four are classics, two are by Cedar Walton and one was composed by Brown. The conversation between the players is easy and comfortable as they navigate through each song. If you enjoy small group sessions you’ll find these consummate musicians will deliver what you like.
Tracks | 41:10
- Ojos de Rojo (Cedar Walton) – 5:16
- Slippery – 7:27 (Ray Brown)
- Something in Common (Walton) – 4:50
- Love Walked In (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 5:25
- Georgia on My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell) – 7:11
- Little Girl Blue (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 6:17
- Sister Sadie (Horace Silver) – 4:54
- Ray Brown – bass
- Cedar Walton – piano
- Elvin Jones – drums
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