Hollywood On 52nd Street
Harry Warren composed the music and Mack Gordon, the lyrics for the now jazz standard, I Had the Craziest Dream, for the 1942 film Springtime In The Rockies. The film starred Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, John Payne, Cesar Romero, Harry James and His Music Makers and the vocal group Six Hits and a Miss.
The Story: Broadway partners Vicky Lane and Dan Christy have a tiff over Christy’s womanizing. Jealous Vicky takes up with her old flame and former dance partner, Victor Price, and Dan’s career takes a nosedive. In hopes of rekindling their romance and getting Vicky back on the boards with him, Dan follows her to a ritzy resort in the Canadian Rockies, where she and Victor are about to open their new act. But things get complicated when Dan wakes after a bender to find that he’s hired an outlandish Latin secretary, Rosita Murphy, which makes Vicky think he’s just up to his old tricks again.
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
Stormy Weather is both title track composed by Harold Arlen in 1933 and title of the 1943 film starring Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson and the Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold. The romantic role of Selina, was invented for the film as Robinson did not have such a romance in real life. The song has been performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Frank Sinatra, Red Garland, Charles Mingus, Don Byas to name a few. But the classic Horne is what you’ll hear.
The Story: The film is based upon the life and times of its star, dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who plays Bill Williamson, a talented born dancer who returns home in 1918 after fighting in World War I and attempts to pursue a career as a performer. With his perpetually broke friend Gabe Tucker (Dooley Wilson along the way, he meets a beautiful singer named Selina Rogers (Lena Horne) at a soldiers’ ball and promises to come back to her when he “gets to be somebody.” Years go by, and Bill and Selina’s rising careers intersect only briefly, since Selina is unwilling to settle down.
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
This Time The Dream’s On Me was given to the jazz world when Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer penned what would become a classic standard. Debuting in the 1941 film, Blues In The Night, starring Priscilla Lane, Jack Carson, Betty Field, Richard Whorf, Wallace Ford and Elia Kazan.
The Story: Jigger Lane forms a band that includes singer Ginger “Character” Powell, wife of the trumpeter Leo Powell, and Nickie Haroyen and Peppi. All of them dedicate themselves to work as a unit and to play ‘blues’ music. The dedication isn’t paying off in money and while riding the rails in a boxcar they meet and befriend a gangster named Del Davis. He offers them a job at a New Jersey roadhouse, where Powell falls in love with Kay Grant, a former real-good friend of Davis. But when Powell learns that Character is about to have a baby, he returns to her. Jigger tries to make Kay the band’s singer and, when this fails, runs off with her. She leaves him with nothing to show for him except a nervous breakdown. Back at the roadhouse, after his recovery, Kay shows up, has a quarrel with Davis, shoots and kills him and plans to take back up with “Jigger”, who knows better but just can’t help himself. While she is waiting in a car for him, along comes cripple Brad Ames, who she put in that condition. He gets in and drives the car over a cliff, leaving no survivors in the two-passenger crash. The band is back together at the end, still using boxcars as their transportation, but happy playing the blues.
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Larance Marable was born on May 21, 1929 in Los Angeles, California and was related to Mississippi riverboat bandleader Fate Marable. He first had a strong career as a bop musician in the 1950s working with the likes of Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker among others.
In the 1960s Marable started to venture into the cool jazz idiom with musicians like Zoot Sims, George Shearing, Sonny Stitt and Chet Baker, working with the latter as early as 1956 on the album Chet Baker Sings.
In the Seventies he toured with Supersax and Bobby Hutcherson but recorded Tenorman as a leader with James Clay. He also played with Kenny Drew, Teddy Edwards, Stan Getz, Hampton Hawes, and Milt Jackson. Earlier in his career, he was known as Lawrence but the hard bop drummer Larance Marable, best known for his work as a regular member of Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, passed away on July 4, 2012 in his hometown of Los Angeles.
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Review: Julie Dexter & The HC3 | The Smiling Hour
There is an inherent understanding of individual artistry I bring to this listening experience. I am filled with anticipation, expectation and a curiosity of what this ensemble will do with the compendium of genius represented in part by Carmichael, Ellington, Lins, Shorter and Higginbotham.
The true measurement of a vocalist is the musicians encircling her and this storyteller has chosen well. With minimalistic accompaniment, they cajole the melody along with a voice that undeniably understands what the lyricist penned. Her interpretations are pure and simple statements from the emotional depths of her soul. Of course, I speak of Julie Dexter, who brings to bear a jazz sensibility reminiscent of the legendary jazz vocalists of the last century.
But do not be deceived. This is far from a project of solo amplitude but a synergy of rhythmic voices that speak volumes. The subtleties in their playing do not bemoan their complete lack of ego as they unfold the story in each song. Like children passing notes in school, this rhythm section comprised of pianist Nick Rosen, bassist Kevin Smith and the anchor Henry Conerway III on drums, easily play off one another, keeping the improvisation of the story vibrant while maintaining the integrity of the composition.
They begin the set with an up-tempo swing invitation to come along to the Black Nile interjected with a bit of scatting on her interpretation of a Vanessa Rubin lyric. Turning to a light-hearted lament, Julie relates her loss of words that’s more a compliment that a complaint with You Leave Me Breathless. The quartet reaches back some forty years to remind the listener that Thom Bell and Linda Creed are still relevant in this modern day world of strife with People Make The World Go Round.
There are three moments of quiet during this session where the ballad takes the spotlight: Jay Livingston’s Never Let Me Go, Hoagy Carmichael’s The Nearness Of You and Good Morning Heartache by Irene Higginbotham. Kevin’s refreshing bowing and plucks, Nick’s offerings of piano accents and Henry’s brush setting tempos compliment Julie’s heartfelt interpretations.
Returning to the fun, we have Nat Adderley’s composition The Old Country, an easy romp with That’s Livin’, a tribute to Duke Ellington that showcases the trio’s interaction on the lone instrumental, Cotton Tail. Well placed in the lineup is the gentle Ivan Lins’ bossa title track The Smiling Hour giving you to sway to the rhythms before closing out the set with the classic Mongo Santamaria’s Afro Blue.
In a world where the milieu seeks style over substance, this formidable foursome is notorious for the honesty of their sound, thus proving substance is their style. There is sparseness in their articulation exhibiting a maturity that echoes less is more. Within this offering lies an unscripted collective intimacy that captures the discipline and freedom in each performance and they have given a new bloom to the classics that will stand the test of time. But what I like most about this expose they’ve aptly titled The Smiling Hour is… the promise of things to come.
carl anthony | notorious jazz | may 19, 2015
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