The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Remaining vigilant, being healthy, social distancing as those in our nation who continue to navigate positively and negatively through this pandemic.

This week the album I’m recommending for listening is The Young Lions by Lee Morgan leading an ad hoc group of musicians who made up the septet for this recording. It was recorded on April 25, 1960 at the Bell Sound Studios in New York City and was produced by Sid McCoy. The album was released in 1961 on Vee~Jay Records.

The album title echoes that of a popular 1948 novel by Irwin Shaw which had been made into a feature film shortly before the album was recorded. The young lions who made the music on this album have varied musical philosophies and sundry jazz backgrounds.

The young lions phrase was revived in jazz in the 1980s when, as in 1960, there was a tension between the modern jazz traditionalists and the avant-garde.

1. Seeds of Sin (Shorter) ~ 5:44
2. Scourn’ (Shorter) ~ 5:58
3. Fat Lady (Shorter) ~ 5:03
4. Peaches and Cream (Shorter) ~ 6:52
5. That’s Right (Morgan) ~ 11:37

• Lee Morgan – trumpet
• Wayne Shorter – tenor sax
• Frank Strozier – alto sax
• Bobby Timmons – piano
• Bob Cranshaw – bass
• Albert “Tootie” Heath (3-5, 8) drums
• Louis Hayes (1, 2, 6, 7) – drums

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

As the pandemic wages on, rising numbers amongst the unvaccinated, the unmasked and the ignorant threaten the spread to the vaccinated and the children, while once again filling our hospitals. I cringe to think of the children who are going to be forced back to school without a vaccine. I’ve personally had a vaccinated friend who tested positive while working at a day camp with exposed children. Camp was shut down immediately, friend is fine but the Delta variant is highly contagious, like chicken pox. Be vigilant and stay safe.

With that in mind, I am pulling out the classic Song for My Father, the hard bop album by the Horace Silver Quintet, inspired by a trip that Silver made to Brazil. The songs were recorded at Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey by two different ensembles over two sessions ~ 3,6 on October 31, 1963 and 1,2,4,5 on October 26, 1964. Produced by Alfred Lion, it was released on the Blue Note record label in January, 1965.

The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver’s father, John Tavares Silver, to whom the title composition is dedicated. The title track, Song for My Father, is the leader’s most recognized composition, blending his native Cape Verdean folk music with bossa nova.

1. Song for My Father ~ 7:17
2. The Natives Are Restless Tonight ~ 6:09
3. Calcutta Cutie ~ 8:31
4. Que Pasa ~ 7:47
5. The Kicker (Joe Henderson) ~ 5:26
6. Lonely Woman ~ 7:02

• Horace Silver ~ piano
• Carmell Jones ~ trumpet (2, 5 solo | 1, 4 ensemble)
• Joe Henderson ~ tenor saxophone (1,2,4,5)
• Teddy Smith ~ bass (1,2,4,5)
• Roger Humphries ~ drums (1,2,4,5)
• Blue Mitchell ~ trumpet (3, ensemble)
• Junior Cook ~ tenor saxophone (3, ensemble)
• Gene Taylor ~ bass (3,6)
• Roy Brooks ~ drums (3,6)

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Taking the high road and staying safe, socially distanced and listening to great music. This week I am choosing A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing is the second studio album by pianist Vince Guaraldi, credited to the Vince Guaraldi Trio. It was recorded at Fantasy Recording Studios in San Francisco, California on April 16, 1957 and released in the U.S. the following year on the Fantasy Records label. Ralph J. Gleason wrote the liner notes and in 1994, Phil De Lancie produced the digital remastering.

1. A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn) ~ 5:37
2. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise (Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Romberg) ~ 3:28
3. Yesterdays (Jerome Kern) ~ 4:00
4. Like A Mighty Rose aka Room At The Bottom (Vince Guaraldi) ~ 4:30

1. Looking For The Boy (George & Ira Gershwin) ~ 4:06
2. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma) ~ 4:21
3. Lonely Girl (Bobby Troup) 3:23
4. Willow Weep For Me (Ann Ronell) ~ 5:14

• Vince Guaraldi – piano
• Eddie Duran – guitar
• Dean Reilly – double bass

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

CHET BAKER PLAYS THE BEST OF LERNER & LOEWE

The fat lady has not received her phone call to even begin warming up as the country races back to the way things were more than a year ago. It took three years to get past the Spanish Flu pandemic a hundred years ago because people didn’t want to adhere to the systems put in place. The Delta variant is here with a vengeance causing 21+ thousand new cases here in Florida this past weekend and the numbers are still being counted. I’ve had friends exposed to this variant with fortunate test results clearing them. I am socially distancing when out, wearing my mask and quarantining myself at home. I hope you are doing the same.

This week’s pick is the 1959 album Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe. The trumpeter features show tunes by the composer and lyricist, and was released on the Riverside label. The recording sessions were produced by Orrin Keepnews at the Reeves Sound Studios in New York City. Tracks 2,6,7,8 were recorded on July 21st and 1,3,4,5 took place on July 22, 1959.

Track Listing | 43:02

1. I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face ~ 4:16
2. I Could Have Danced All Night ~ 3:43
3. The Heather on the Hill ~ 5:04
4. On the Street Where You Live ~ 8:37
5. Almost Like Being in Love ~ 4:53
6. Thank Heaven for Little Girls ~ 4:35
7. I Talk to the Trees ~ 5:51
8. Show Me ~ 6:30

Personnel 

• Chet Baker ~ trumpet
• Herbie Mann ~ flute, tenor saxophone
• Zoot Sims ~ tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
• Pepper Adams ~ baritone saxophone
• Bob Corwin (tracks 1 & 3-5), Bill Evans (tracks 2 & 6-8) ~ piano
• Earl May ~ bass
• Clifford Jarvis ~ drums

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

The Delta variant is causing a rise in new cases of Covid~19 and is much easier to contract. The modus operandi of the day is continuing my exercise of social distancing, quarantining myself at home and wearing my mask whenever I am in public places. I hope you are doing the same.

I offer up my latest selection is the tenth album and sixth on Concord from Nnenna Freelon. It is her 2005 album Blueprint Of A Lady: Sketches Of Billie Holiday. It was her tribute to the late great vocalist. The album was recorded March~April 2005 at the Fantasy Studio in Berkeley, California, and released on the Concord Jazz label that same year.

Though her arrangements may not reflect the melodies we are historically familiar with, Freelon has an inimitable way of taking us on a journey that brings her own sensibilities to interpret these songs with refreshing renditions that may appeal to old fans and hopefully garner new enthusiasts.

Track Listing | 1:02:46

1. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ~ 4:18
2. What a Little Moonlight Can Do (Harry M. Woods) ~ 5:13
3. Don’t Explain (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog, Jr.) ~ 4:03
4. God Bless the Child (Holiday, Herzog) ~ 5:21
5. Strange Fruit (Abel Meeropol) ~ 2:20
6. Willow Weep For Me (Ann Ronell) ~ 2:52
7. Balm in Gilead (Traditional) ~ 4:49
8. Them There Eyes (Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber, William Tracey) ~ 5:09
9. Only You Will Know (Nnenna Freelon, Brandon McCune) ~ 3:41
10. You’ve Changed (Bill Carey, Carl Fischer) ~ 5:24
11.  Now or Never (Billie Holiday, Curtis Reginald Lewis) ~ 2:55
12. Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Roger (Ram) Ramirez, James Sherman) ~ 4:14
13. Left Alone (Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron) – 5:02
14. Little Brown Bird (Interlude) (Nnenna Freelon, Brandon McCune) ~ 1:32
15. All of Me (Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons) ~ 5:53

• Nnenna Freelon ~ arranger, producer, vocals
• Brandon McCune ~ arranger, fender rhodes, Hammond B3, piano, trumpet
• Beverly Botsford ~ arranger, percussion
• Wayne Batchelor ~ arranger, acoustic bass guitar, acoustic bass
• Kinah Boto ~ drums
• André Bush, Julian Lage ~ guitar
• Doug Lawrence ~ tenor saxophone
• Christian Scott ~ trumpet
• Jessica Ivry ~ cello
• Mary Fettig ~ alto flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, rhythm arrangements
• John Clayton ~ horn arrangements

• Nnenna Freelon/Ed Keane – producer
• Josiah Gluck – engineer, audio engineer, mixing 
• Jesse Nichols – assistant engineer, mixing
• Nick Phillips – audio production, producer
• George Horn – mastering

• Abbey Anna – art direction
• Terri Apanasewicz – hair stylist
• Rudy Calvo – make-up
• Danielle Brancazio – package design
• Randee Saint Nicholas – photography

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