Requisites
Red Garland at The Prelude | By Eddie Carter
This morning’s discussion is by one of my favorite pianists. Red Garland at The Prelude (Prestige PRLP 7170) is the first of three live albums, plus a fourth containing two live tracks documenting a single night’s performance by The Red Garland Trio. The other LPs are Lil’ Darlin’ (1959), Red Garland Live! (1965), and Satin Doll (1971). Red is supported on this date by Jimmy Rowser on bass, and Charles “Specs” Wright on drums. My copy used in this report is the 1978 Prestige Jazz Masterpieces Series Japanese Mono reissue (Prestige SMJ-6581). The album gets underway with Satin Doll by Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, and Billy Strayhorn. The trio opens with an irresistible toe-tapping beat on the melody. Red is up first and picks up the pace with a lively opening solo, then engages in a cheery conversation with “Specs” ahead of the group’s vibrant ending.
The crowd has only a moment to catch its breath before the ensemble jumps into a vigorous rendition of Perdido by Juan Tizol, Ervin Drake, and Hans Lengsfelder. In Spanish, the title means lost, but Juan’s tune is named for the New Orleans street. Garland takes charge from the opening chorus and chews up even more terrain on the first solo. Wright has a short statement and reappears during the climax. The group turns to a popular song from the 1942 film Iceland next, There Will Never Be Another You by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. The trio takes us to a happy place on the melody and everyone gets a solo opportunity. The pianist takes off first, providing scintillating energy on the opening statement. Jimmy comes in next and walks his bass with authority, and “Specs” has the final word in an effervescent exchange with Red preceding the trio’s exit.
popular standard, Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon brings the first side to a close with a marvelous rendition by the trio. Garland was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet when he recorded it on Round About Midnight (1956). The trio is magical on the melody, and Red begins with a thrilling interpretation inspired by the rhythm section’s backing. Rowser follows with a short statement that’s joyous and carefree before Red returns to take the song out. Side Two starts at a speedy pace with Let Me See by Count Basie, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Jon Hendricks. Red flies out of the gate rapidly on the song’s theme, then continues swinging hard on an energized opening solo. Jimmy soars into the next presentation swiftly, and “Specs” shares a second heated discussion with Red leading to the threesome’s quick finish.
Prelude Blues is the pianist’s contribution to the set and slows things down for him to have the solo spotlight to himself. Garland delivers a reading as succulent as soul food with Rowser and Wright adding the tasty ingredients to make this delicious meal complete. Just Squeeze Me by Duke Ellington and Lee Gaines brings the beat back to midtempo and the group swings easily on the melody. Red gets the most solo space and does the tune justice with a statement of sheer delight. Jimmy is heard briefly during the closing chorus. This set ends with a vivacious rendition of Count Basie’s theme, One O’Clock Jump. Red and “Specs” bring the song to life with a short introduction, then the pianist attacks the only solo with an intense groove while Rowser and Wright maintain the aggressive beat until the climax and the trio’s short signoff.
Red Garland at The Prelude was originally recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, and Victor Musical Industries has done a superb job mastering the original tapes. The album has a marvelous soundstage with a great definition from each instrument that transports your listening room to the club as the trio is on stage. Now that I have this record in my library, I’ll be on the hunt for the other three to complete the entire night’s performance. If you’re a fan of Red Garland, I invite you to audition Red Garland at The Prelude for a spot in your library. If you love jazz, this is an album you should treat yourself to!
~ Lil’ Darlin’ (Status Records ST 8314), Red Garland Live! (Prestige New Jazz NJLP 8326), Round About Midnight (Columbia CL 949/CS 8649), Satin Doll (Prestige P-7859) – Source: Discogs.com
~ Bye Bye Blackbird, Just Squeeze Me, One O’Clock Jump, Perdido, Satin Doll, There’ll Never Be Another You – Source: JazzStandards.com © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter
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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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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lyman Woodard was born on March 3, 1942 in Owosso, Michigan. He started his musical career with a trio with drummer Melvin Davis and guitarist Dennis Coffey. They recorded the album Hair And Thangs that was released under Coffey’s name, however a single with It’s Your Thing and River Rouge was released under the name of Dennis Coffey and the Lyman Woodard Trio.
From the late 1960s, Woodard recorded with Motown acts, and served as musical director for Martha and the Vandellas. Establishing the jazz~funk band, the Lyman Woodard Organization in 1975 recorded Saturday Night Special, and in 1979, he recorded Don’t Stop The Groove, for the Corridor label. His 1987 recording, Dedicacion, featured violinist Regina Carter.
In March 2009, Wax Poetics Records reissued a limited pressing of his Saturday Night Special as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl.
Organist Lyman Woodard, who was based in Detroit, Michigan and was known for his ability to fuse Latin and Afro~Cuban inspired rhythms, transitioned on February 25, 2009 in his hometown of Owosso.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Edward Davis was born in 1915 in Madison, Georgia. He and his family moved to Gary, Illinois, and then to Englewood, New Jersey, where he completed his high school education. Being musically gifted, he was accepted into the Juilliard School in New York City to study piano and composition, his fees being paid by a benefactress.
In the late 1930s he wrote the song Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) with Ram Ramirez but could not initially place it, until he offered it to Billie Holiday in 1942. However, due to the 1942–44 musicians’ strike Holiday didn’t record the song until 1944. Although at first it was only a minor hit, it soon achieved widespread success and went on to become a jazz standard.
During the early 1940s Davis struggled to make a living as a songwriter and supplemented his meagre royalties by giving piano lessons. Drafted in 1942, but as a member of the NAACP, refused enlistment into the segregated regiment, was ultimately imprisoned for thirteen days, then inducted into the army, serving three and a half years. By 1945, as a warrant officer, he was sent to France for six months, and learned the language. Back home, upon his discharge he left for Hollywood, joined the Actors’ Laboratory Theatre, however his acting career only offered stereotypical racial roles. At the end of 1947 he emigrated to France.
Warmly welcomed in Paris, in part, due to the fame of the song Lover Man, he styled himself Jimmy “Lover Man” Davis and entered a highly creative period, writing a number of songs and placing them with major French performers, such as Yves Montand, Maurice Chevalier, and Joséphine Baker. His songwriting royalties were still insufficient to live on, so he began singing his own songs in solo performances, touring through France, Italy, Holland, Spain, Switzerland and other countries.
Composer, songwriter, vocalist, pianist and actor Jimmy Davis, whose birth and death dates are currently unknown, and who was a close friend of Langston Hughes, transitioned in Paris, France in 1997. His biography, In Search of Jimmy ‘Lover Man’ Davis, was written by Professor François Grosjean.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Reese Europe was born on February 22, 1881 in Mobile, Alabama and in 1891 his family moved to Washington, D.C. In 1904 he moved to New York City and six years later he organized the Clef Club, a society for Black Americans in the music industry. In 1912, the club, with its 125 members who played in various configurations, made history when they became the first band to play a proto-jazza concert at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Colored Music Settlement School.
The importance of this historic concert is that it took place 12 years before the Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin concert at Aeolian Hall, and 26 years before Benny Goodman’s famed concert at Carnegie. The Clef Club’s performances played music written solely by Black composers, including Harry T. Burleigh and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
In 1913 and 1914 Jim made a series of phonograph records for the Victor Talking Machine Company. These recordings are some of the best examples of the pre-jazz hot ragtime style of the U.S. Northeast of the 1910s, predating and protecting the idea that the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz pieces in 1917 for Victor.
Europe was known for his outspoken personality and unwillingness to bend to musical conventions, particularly in his insistence on playing his own style of music. During World War I, Europe obtained a commission in the New York Army National Guard, where he fought as a lieutenant with the 369th Infantry Regiment otherwise known as the “Harlem Hellfighters” when it was assigned to the French Army. He went on to direct the regimental band to great acclaim. They made their first recordings in France for the Pathé Brothers.
Returning home in 1919 he made more records for Pathé with Noble Sissle and continued to lead his band. During a talk backstage with two of his drummers, Steve and Herbert Wright about their stage behavior, Herbert got agitated and stabbed Europe in the neck with a pen knife. The show went on, Jim went to the hospital but doctors were unable to stem the flow of blood.
Arranger, composer and bandleader Jim Europe, who also played piano and violin, and was the leading ragtime and early jazz figure on the Negro music scene of New York City in the 1910s, transitioned on May 9, 1919.
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