Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Twardzik was born Richard Henryk Twardzik on April 30, 1931 in Danvers, Massachusetts. He trained in classical piano as a child and made his professional debut at the age of fourteen. He was taught by Margaret Chaloff, the mother of baritone saxophone player Serge Chaloff.
Twardzik recorded with Serge Chaloff and with Charlie Mariano. He worked with Charlie Parker on several occasions toward the end of Parker’s life. He played with Chet Baker and Lionel Hampton and recorded with Baker and Chaloff in 1954 and 1955.
It was during his teen years, that he became addicted to heroin. Bebop pianist Dick Twardzik who worked in Boston for most of his short career passed away from a heroin overdose while on tour with Chet Baker in Europe on October 21, 1955 in Paris, France. He was 24.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Krzysztof Komeda was born Krzysztof Trzciński on April 27, 1931 in Poznań, Poland and grew up in Częstochowa and Ostrów Wielkopolski. He took music lessons from early childhood and became a member of the Poznań conservatorium at the age of eight, but World War II thwarted his plans. He explored the theory of music, and learned to play piano during this period.
While attending the Liceum for Boys, where he graduated from in 1950, he participated in the Music and Poetry Club. After high school he entered the Medical Academy in Poznań to study medicine. He finished his six-year-long studies and obtained a medical doctor diploma in 1956. He chose to specialize as a head and neck surgeon.
Komeda was interested in light and dance music and met Witold Kujawski, a graduate of the same school and already a well-known swinging bass player. He introduced him to jazz and took him to Kraków where the romantic period of Polish jazz, called the catacombs, was in the spotlight. Jam sessions with famous musicians as Matuszkiewicz, Borowiec, Walasek, and Kujawski took place in Witold’s legendary small apartment in Kraków.
Fascinated with be-bop performed by Andrzej Trzaskowski, his fascination with jazz and the friendship with famous musicians strengthened his connections with the music. He worked for some time with the first, postwar, pioneer Polish jazz band called Melomani. Later, he played with various pop groups, a Dixieland band before turning his attention to modern jazz and the creation of the Komeda Sextet.
Trzciński used the stage name ‘Komeda’ for the first time to protect his medical profession from the scutiny of those of Polish society who regarded jazz as a cheap suspicious music of night clubs. The sextet became the first Polish jazz group playing modern jazz, and its pioneering performances opened the way for jazz in Poland. He played jazz that related to European traditions and which was the synthesis of the two most popular groups at that time: The Modern Jazz Quartet and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.
He would go on to tour Moscow, Grenoble, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Prague, Blend, Koenigsberg, Bulgaria and both West and East Germany. He was a part of a show called Jazz and Poetry, began scoring films and overall, Komeda composed more than 70 soundtracks. While staying in Los Angeles, California in 1968 he composed the film music for Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Kulik’s The Riot.
In 1968, in Los Angeles, while having a friendly rough-and-tumble with writer Marek Hłasko he was pushed over an escarpment and suffered a haematoma of the brain. Medical treatment in the US hospital did not save his life. After being transported home to Poland in a coma and in a terminal state. Pianst Krzysztof Komeda, who is credited with creating an original style, often described as the Polish school of jazz, hung on until passing away on April 23, 1969 at the age of 37.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Reuben Bloom was born on April 24, 1902 in New York City, where he learned to play the piano. During the 1920s he wrote many novelty piano solos which are still well regarded today. He recorded for the Aeolian Company’s Duo-Art reproducing piano system various titles including his Spring Fever.
In 1927 Rube had his first hit with Soliloquy and his last hit was “Here’s to My Lady” in 1952, which he wrote with Johnny Mercer. In 1928, he made a number of records with Joe Venuti’s Blue Four for OKeh Records, including five songs he sang, as well as played piano.
He formed and led a number of bands during his career, most notably Rube Bloom and His Bayou Boys. They recorded three records in 1930 that are considered some of the best made during the early years of the Depression. The Bayou Boys was an all-star studio group consisting of Benny Goodman, Adrian Rollini, Tommy Dorsey and Mannie Klein. At other times, Bloom played with other bands, such as with Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer in the Sioux City Six as well as his continued frequent work with Joe Venuti’s Blue Four.
During his career, Rube also worked with many well-known performers, including Ruth Etting, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey. He collaborated with a wide number of lyricists including Ted Koehler, and Mitchell Parish. During his lifetime he published several books on the piano method.
Bloom’s I Can’t Face the Music with lyrics by Ted Koehler was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1962 Verve release, Rhythm is My Business, in a fabulous swing/big band version with Bill Doggett. Some of his best-known composition collaborations with lyricists were Day In, Day Out and Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread) with lyrics by Johnny Mercer; Give Me the Simple Life with Harry Ruby; and Maybe You’ll Be There with lyrics by Sammy Gallop.
Pianist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, bandleader, recording artist, and author Rube Bloom passed away on March 30, 1976 in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lou Stein was born on April 22, 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1942 he had joined Ray McKinley’s band in 1942. While serving military service he played with Glenn Miller’s Army Airforce Band stateside during World War II but never went overseas.
After the war, he worked with Charlie Ventura in 1946 and 1947 and became a session musician. Lou performed with the Lawson-Haggart Band, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughan, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Louie Bellson, Red Allen, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young.
Recording as a bandleader, in 1957 Stein had a U.S. Top 40 hit with Almost Paradise, which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. His cover version of Got a Match made the Cashbox Top 60 in 1958. His most famous composition was East of Suez.
He played with Joe Venuti and Flip Phillips from 1969 to 1972. From 1954 to 1994 he recorded sixteen albums as a leader and through the Fifties, he recorded with Louis Bellson, Woody Herman, Lee Konitz, Joe Newman, Charlie Parker, Cootie Williams. Pianist and composer Lou Stein, who was comfortable in swing, bop, Dixieland, and commercial settings, passed away on December 11, 2002.
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Requisites
Waltz For Debby ~ Bill Evans Trio | By Eddie Carter
By 1961, pianist Bill Evans not only had one of the best trios in the United States but one of the best groups in jazz with bassist Scott LaFaro who would replace Sam Jones and Paul Motion on drums. Together, this threesome made four incredible albums for Riverside Records. Portrait in Jazz in 1960, Explorations in 1961, and two albums recorded in performance at The Village Vanguard, on June 25, 1961. Sunday at The Village Vanguard released the same year and the subject of this morning’s discussion, Waltz For Debby (RLP 399/RS 9399) in 1962. These LP’s became a standard of excellence among other piano-bass-drums records that followed. My copy used in this report is the 2000 Mono audiophile reissue (DIW-9011 – RLP-399) by DIW Records. This is the third Japanese pressing of Waltz For Debby, but the first Mono reissue manufactured by Victor Entertainment, Inc. The previous two albums released in 1975 and 1984 were both Stereo reissues by Victor Musical Industries, Inc.
The opening track, My Foolish Heart was written in 1949 by Ned Washington and Victor Young! This timeless evergreen became a well-recorded jazz standard and was featured on the silver screen in the film dramatization, the same year. The introduction is a suspenseful and ingeniously planned affair where the trio interacts beautifully so that no one voice dominates or falls subordinate to the others. Bill is ideally suited to this serene standard as the song’s only soloist because he could create compelling improvisations in any context. Here, he crafts a stately delicate reading that unfolds its beauty gently. Scott and Paul complement the pianist with a subtle expression of intimacy that’s beautiful and as lush as any I’ve heard.
Bill’s contribution to the album is the title tune, named for the pianist’s niece and one of two selections heard here that made their first appearance on the 1956 album, New Jazz Conceptions. The introduction is a mild two instrument dialogue by Bill and Scott evolving into a midtempo theme treatment when Paul joins the conversation. Evans’ opening solo is a gorgeous tour-de-force surging with vibrant activity, then LaFaro gives a vigorous exercise on the closer delivered with the utmost assurance that’s impossible not to tap your foot to.
Detour Ahead by bassist and violinist, John Frigo, guitarist Herb Ellis, and pianist Lou Carter is a song that hasn’t lost its charm by being done too often. This jazz standard was written in 1947 after all three musicians left The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra to form a trio, The Soft Winds. Bill masterfully negotiates the opening statement affectionately with skillfully paced cues of rich intonation. Scott closes with an expressive reading that’s inexpressibly poignant and heartfelt into an elegant coda.
My Romance by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart was written in 1935 for the Broadway musical, Jumbo and also returns in the 1962 musical film, Billy Rose’s Jumbo. This evergreen opens with a marvelous solo introduction by Evans, then LaFaro and Motion shine joining him for a midtempo theme treatment that doesn’t fail to please the audience and listener. Bill’s opening solo is on point, emphasizing his remarkable technique and facility for complex melodic invention. Scott moves with supreme confidence and a lively rhythmic drive on the final reading propelled by the nostalgic reinforcement of the piano and drums until the blissful ending.
The opening notes of Some Other Time by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green recall Evans’ and Paul Chambers’ introduction to Miles Davis’ Flamenco Sketches two years earlier on Kind of Blue. This tune was written in 1944 and featured in the musical, On The Town. The pianist originally planned to record it on his 1958 album, Everybody Digs Bill Evans, but used another Bernstein, Comden, Green composition instead, Lucky To Be Me that’s also heard in the film. The trio presents the melody with a collective warm glow, and Bill delivers a gentle tenderness and tranquility on the song’s only solo that’s bewitching. Scott and Paul add a lovingly subtle supplement that’s just the right touch culminating with a tender climax and warm response from the crowd.
The album closes, paying homage to Evans’ old boss Miles Davis with a scintillating rendition of Milestones, first performed by the trumpeter as the title tune of his 1958 album. This jazz standard opens with a medium-fast introduction by the trio that shifts into uptempo for the melody. Evans is extremely entertaining on the first solo, working efficiently to the sparkling groundwork of his bandmates. The highlight though is the fireworks LaFaro creates on a marvelously energetic closer that’s a perfect finish to a phenomenal set and album.
Scott LaFaro was a gifted hard-bop bassist who was highly engaging. He also added a dimension of artistic delicacy, maturity and meticulousness to the four albums he appeared as a member of The Bill Evans Trio. LaFaro was considered one of the best musicians in jazz and was slated to do greater things in the years ahead. Sadly, that wouldn’t happen because just ten days after this recording was made, he would die in an automobile accident devastating Evans personally and the loss to jazz itself was incalculable. The six selections on this LP were splendidly recorded originally by Dave Jones and the remastering by JVC Mastering Center for this reissue is extraordinary. Like its companion, Sunday at The Village Vanguard, Waltz For Debby is an evocative, riveting live performance that’s captured at its apex and a musical treat by The Bill Evans Trio that I strongly recommend auditioning and occupying a spot in your jazz library!
~ Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Riverside RLP 12-291/RLP 1129); Explorations (RLP 351/RLP 9351); Kind of Blue (Columbia CL 1355/CS 8163); Milestones (Columbia CL 1193/CS 9428); New Jazz Conceptions (RLP 12-223); Portrait in Jazz (RLP 12-315/RLP 1162); Sunday at The Village Vanguard (RLP-376/RLP 9376); Waltz For Debby (Riverside Original Recording Series SMJ-6118); (Riverside Jazz Golden 50 VIJ-113) – Source: Discogs.com
~ Detour Ahead, My Foolish Heart, My Romance, Some Other Time – Source: JazzStandards.com
~ Victor Entertainment, Inc. is the new name for Victor Musical Industries, Inc.
~ Jumbo, Billy Rose’s Jumbo, On The Town, Lucky To Be Me, The Soft Winds – Source: Wikipedia.org
© 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter
Waltz for Debby is a 1962 live album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans recorded June 21, 1961 at the Village Vanguard. It was released in early 1962. The album was the fourth and final effort from the unit as bassist Scott LaFaro died in a car accident just ten days after this live date.
Track Listing | 38:29- My Foolish Heart (Victor Young/Ned Washington) – 4:58
- Waltz for Debby [Take 2] (Bill Evans/Gene Lees) – 7:00
- Detour Ahead [Take 2] (Lou Carter, Herb Ellis, Johnny Frigo) – 7:37
- My Romance [Take 1] (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart) – 7:13
- Some Other Time (Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green) – 5:11
- Milestones (Miles Davis) – 6:30
- Bill Evans ~ piano
- Scott LaFaro ~ bass
- Paul Motian ~ drums
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