Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Woody Witt was born on March 16, 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska and started on the clarinet in fourth grade and switched his focus to saxophone the following year. A professional musician from the age of 16, he studied at the University of Houston, earned a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and a doctorate from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.
As a saxophonist, Witt has recorded ten albums as a leader and over twenty-five albums as a sideman. He has collaborated with major jazz artists such as Randy Brecker, Tim Hagans, Jim Rotondi, the late James Moody, David Liebman, and Tim Armacost, Conrad Herwig, Larry Ham, Joe LoCascio, Mark Levine, Louis Hayes, Adam Nussbaum, Billy Hart, and Nancy King. He has worked with the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet and has been featured on major third-stream works that blend together jazz and classical music.
The winner of the 2010 Chamber Music America French American Cultural Exchange grant and the 2014 International Jazz Saxophone Competition in Taiwan, Woody is the booker and the artistic director at Houston’s top jazz club, Cezanne. He has taught at Houston Community College since 2000, is an Affiliate Artist at the University of Houston, and conducts a countless number of workshops and masterclasses throughout the United States, France, Romania, Germany, and Asia. Currently, saxophonist Woody Witt is involved in several different group projects.
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Requisites
Today and Tomorrow is the fourth album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner. It was produced by Bob Thiele and recorded for the Impulse! label in 1963 and 1964.
Tracks | 38:44 ~ All compositions by McCoy Tyner except where noted
- Contemporary Focus ~ 8:28
- A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie) ~ 5:07
- T ‘N A Blues (Jones) ~ 4:05
- Autumn Leaves (Kosma) ~ 6:10
- Three Flowers ~ 10:12
- When Sunny Gets Blue (Marvin Fisher, Segal) ~ 4:42
- McCoy Tyner ~ piano
- Jimmy Garrison ~ bass (4-9)
- Albert Heath ~ drums (4-9)
- John Gilmore ~ tenor saxophone (1-3)
- Thad Jones ~ trumpet (1-3)
- Frank Strozier ~ alto saxophone (1-3)
- Butch Warren ~ bass (1-3)
- Elvin Jones ~ drums (1-3)
I was in the mood to hear some piano jazz a few nights ago when I came across a title I’d not listen to for a while. I’ve never heard anything by pianist McCoy Tyner that I didn’t like and the album up for discussion before learning of his passing on March 7, 2020, is no exception. I placed the record on my Dual 1246 turntable, dropped the stylus and became immersed in the music of this gifted musician. Today and Tomorrow (Impulse! A-63) was recorded and released in 1964 while McCoy (only twenty-five years old at the time) was still a member of The John Coltrane Quartet. Here, he’s featured in three sextet and trio settings each leading an all-star group of Thad Jones on trumpet; Frank Strozier on alto sax; John Gilmore on tenor sax; Butch Warren on bass; Elvin Jones on drums (tracks: A1, A3, B2); Jimmy Garrison on bass; Tootie Heath on drums (tracks: A2, B1, B3). My copy used in this report is the 1972 Stereo reissue (Impulse!-ABC Records AS-63), the fourth US pressing.
Contemporary Focus, the first of three tunes by McCoy opens this six-song journey with a rousing collective midtempo theme treatment led by Thad who wails strongly on the lead solo. John and Frank demonstrate their strengths with vibrant enthusiasm for the next two readings. McCoy follows with a briskly swinging interpretation, then Butch and Elvin make the most of two brief juicy opportunities ahead of the closing chorus and fadeout.
A Night In Tunisia by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli is a jazz standard from 1942 with many notable vocal and instrumental recordings to its credit. Jimmy Garrison and Tootie Heath provide the musical backing for this uptempo trio rendition beginning with an exhilarating theme treatment in unison. The pianist begins the opening statement at a very high temperature of molten intensity, then Tootie responds with a riveting performance that has lots of fireworks ahead of the pianist’s exuberant finale.
T’N A Blues, also by Tyner strolls in next to end the first side at midtempo with a relaxed attitude by the sextet on the opening chorus. Gilmore and Tyner are the featured soloists and John goes to work first with an infectiously happy groove. McCoy provides the summation on a leisurely paced performance that’s very danceable leading to the ensemble reassembling for the coda.
Side Two opens with the 1945 popular jazz standard Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert who wrote the French lyrics for the song’s original title, Les Feuilles Mortes (The Dead Leaves), and Johnny Mercer who created the English lyrics. The trio exhibits their infectious chemistry on a lively intro that evolves into the sprightly opening chorus. McCoy kicks off the solos with a dazzling display of finger dexterity with a spirited performance of effortless spontaneity. Jimmy steps in next, walking his bass with bristling vitality and tastefulness, then Tyner communicates a few final choruses of brisk dialogue preceding the effervescent reprise and climax.
Three Flowers is the leader’s longest composition on the album, a mid-tempo waltz offering substantial solo space to himself, Thad, Frank, and John. The sextet opens with a delightfully charming melody and Tyner starts the soloing with an engaging reading possessing incredible beauty and enchantment. Thad follows with a beautifully phrased, vivaciously soulful presentation that’s lyrically pleasant. Frank keeps the ingredients stirring on the next solo with inherent high spirits, and buoyant lyricism. John takes the last spot with an exquisite solo that swings with a swagger into the melody reprise and coda.
The 1956 jazz standard, When Sunny Gets Blue by Marvin Fisher and Jack Segal brings the album to a close with a thoughtfully tranquil theme treatment led by Tyner. McCoy has the solo showcase to himself and gives an enchanting reading of elegant tenderness bringing the listener home with a gentle closing chorus and culmination.
The recording by Rudy Van Gelder is splendid with an excellent soundstage throughout the treble, midrange, and bass spectrum. Each instrument emerges from your speakers to your listening chair as if you’re in the studio with the musicians as they’re recording, producing a gorgeous sound reminiscent of his Blue Note recordings of the period. I had the pleasure of seeing McCoy Tyner three times live, twice here in Atlanta where I got to meet him and once at The Village Vanguard in New York City. He was an incredible musician and wonderful man who was never too busy to meet and chat with his fans, yours truly among them. If you’re a fan of piano jazz or are looking for a terrific album of Modal Jazz and Post-Bop that’s subdued, subtle, and also energetic, I offer for your consideration, Today and Tomorrow by McCoy Tyner. An extremely skilled musician who whether in performance or on record always brought out the absolute best in each of his bandmates.
Autumn Leaves, Night In Tunisia – Source: JazzStandards.com When Sunny Gets Blue – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marty Sheller was born March 15, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey and initially studied percussion, but switched to trumpet as a teenager. He first played with Hugo Dickens in Harlem, and arranged for Sabu Martinez, and began working with Afro-Latin percussionists such as Louie Ramirez and Frankie Malabe.
In 1962 he became a trumpeter in Mongo Santamaria’s band, and worked with Santamaria for more than forty years as a composer and arranger. He also had an extensive association with Fania Records as a house arranger, working with Joe Bataan, Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Hector Lavoe, and Ismael Miranda.
Outside of Fania, he arranged for musicians such as George Benson, David Byrne, Jon Faddis, Giovanni Hidalgo, T.S. Monk, Idris Muhammad, Manny Oquendo, Dave Pike, Tito Puente, Shirley Scott, Woody Shaw, Lew Soloff, and Steve Turre.
In the 2000s, he led his own ensemble, which included the sidemen Chris Rogers, Joe Magnarelli, Sam Burtis, Bobby Porcelli, Bob Franceschini, Oscar Hernández, Ruben Rodriquez, Vince Cherico, and Steve Berrios. Trumpeter Marty Sheller continues to perform and arrange.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey on March 14, 1911 and went blind when he was around 10 years of age. His first job, at age 12, was playing the piano for requests called in to a local radio station. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts in the late 1920s, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys, both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio until 1936, after which time Dan Mooney left the music industry.
In 1937, he began working as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey, a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. Through the early 1940s, Joe arranged for Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and The Modernaires. Putting together his own quartet in 1943, he sang and played the accordion with accompaniment on guitar, bass, and clarinet.
In the last half of the 1940s his group experienced considerable success in the United States. By 1946, a newspaper columnist wrote that Mooney’s music “has the most cynical hot jazz critics describing it in joyous terms, such as exciting, new, the best thing since Ellington, and as new to jazz as the first Dixieland jazz band was when it first arrived”. As for Mooney himself, the columnist wrote that he “played in virtuoso fashion … a fellow who knows not only his instrument, but jazz music, both to just about the ultimate degree.”
In the 1950s, Mooney sang with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and played with Johnny Smith in 1953. After moving to Florida in 1954 he concentrated more on the organ and recorded in 1956. 1963 saw a group of friends form a company to produce a record, Joe Mooney and His Friends. He recorded again in the middle Sixties. Accordionist, organist, and vocalist Joe Mooney passed away after a stroke at age 64, on May 12, 1975, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Williams, Jr. was born on March 13, 1908 in Memphis, Tennessee he learned to play the violin as a child, switched to tuba as a teenager, playing both tuba and the stand-up bass while playing in regional territory bands in the southern states.
A move to New York City in 1936, had him working with jazz luminaries such as Red Allen, Buster Bailey, Sidney Bechet, Benny Carter, J.C. Higginbotham, Billie Holiday, Harry James, James P. Johnson, the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Frankie Newton, and Teddy Wilson.
In the early 1940s he also played in the bands of Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong before joining Teddy Wilson’s band once again. He and Edmond Hall recorded together in 1944 and worked together until 1947. Following this collaboration, Williams played with Tab Smith and then with Johnny Hodges in the mid-1950s.
From the 1960s onward, Williams was less active, though he worked occasionally with musicians such as Buddy Tate in 1968, Red Richards in the Seventies, and Bob Greene from 1978 to 1982. Tubist and double-bassist Johnny Wiliams Jr. performed with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band from 1978 to1998 until he had a stroke and passed away later that year on October 23, 1998 in New York City.