CHARLES WILSON QUINTET

Charles Wilson – Drums
Hope Udobi – Piano
Theljon Allen – Trumpet
Elijah Easton -sax
Mike Saunders – bass

Charles “Charlie” Wilson is a drummer, pianist and bass guitar player. He started playing music at the age of 5, where he began taking lessons taught by Orlando Cotto at Nathan Carter’s School of Music in Baltimore. He attended Archbishop Curley High School under a music scholarship where he won several awards such as the North Texas Jazz Festival Outstanding Soloist Award and the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. As a teen working under the City’s Youth Works Program, he was assigned at Paul L. Dunbar High School’s Music Program where he worked under the leadership of one of the greatest educators and musicians of all times, Charles Funn.

Actual Show Times:

Streaming: Wed, July 6, 7:30 PM | $10 + $1.70 fee

Live: Wed, July 6, 7:30 PM | $20 – $25 + $2.40 – $2.76 fee

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Requisites

Minor Move ~ Tina Brooks | By Eddie Carter

This morning’s choice from the library is Minor Move (Blue Note GXF 3072), a 1958 recording by tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks. It was his first session as a leader and should have resulted in his debut but remained shelved until 1980 when it hit the stores in Japan. He’s joined here by Lee Morgan on trumpet, Sonny Clark on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. My copy used in this report is the 2019 Blue Note Tone Poet Series Stereo reissue (B0030487-01). Nutville by Tina Brooks opens Side One with the quintet’s blissfully happy theme. Sonny offers a welcoming smile on the opening statement, then Lee invites us to make ourselves at home next. Tina continues the lighthearted mood with an easy-going interpretation. Doug adds a few cool notes leading to the group’s finale.

The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields debuted in the film, Swing Time (1936). Tina and Lee accelerate the beat to uptempo for the melody, then Brooks dives straight into an invigorating lead solo. Morgan moves through the second interpretation with surgical precision, followed by Clark who applies infectious enthusiasm to the third reading. Blakey engages in a brief exchange with the front line before everyone reassembles for the ending. Side Two starts with Star Eyes by Gene De Paul and Don Raye from the musical-comedy, I Dood It! (1943). Lee begins with a brief muted intro preceding the midtempo theme. Tina steps up first with a relaxing performance, then Sonny and Lee follow with two satisfying performances of sheer delight.

Minor Move by Tina Brooks gets underway with the quintet’s collective theme, then Brooks settles into a bluesy groove on the lead solo. Lee and Sonny follow with two interpretations that will have your fingers popping and toes tapping to the inviting beat before the ensemble’s closing chorus dissolves into nothingness. Everything Happens To Me by Matt Dennis and Thomas Adair is one of the most beautiful songs from The Great American Songbook. This is a showcase for Tina who gives two emotionally touching performances of lyricism and poignancy. Sandwiched between them is a gorgeous presentation of reflective beauty by Lee and a warm insightful interpretation by Sonny leading to the tenor’s soft conclusion.

Minor Move was produced by Alfred Lion and Rudy Van Gelder was the recording engineer. Joe Harley supervised the reissue and Kevin Gray did the mastering. The packaging is superb with great photos of the session. The recording is fantastic with an exceptional soundstage and outstanding detail that comes through your speakers as clear as Waterford Crystal. The record was pressed on 180-gram audiophile vinyl and is very quiet until the music starts. Tina Brooks released only one album during his lifetime and appeared on several Blue Note sessions. Sadly, he never got the recognition he deserved. He passed away from liver failure at age forty-two on August 13, 1974. If you’re a fan of tenor sax and don’t already own the Mosaic box set, I offer for your consideration, Minor Move by Tina Brooks. It’s a terrific recording by one of the underrated jazz musicians and an album I highly recommend for your library!

~ The Complete Blue Note Recordings of The Tina Brooks Quintets (Mosaic Records MR4-106), True Blue (Blue Note BLP 4041/BST 84041) – Source: Discogs.com ~ The Way You Look Tonight, Star Eyes, Everything Happens To Me – Source: JazzStandards.com © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Closing out the final week of the month is The Swing Machine. It’s another offering from the continent that this Jazz Voyager has discovered not in his collection but one that requires sharing.The title really says it all so aptly named by tenor saxophonist Gérard Badini in preparation for a good time!

The album was recorded May 30, 1975 at the Hoche Studio in Paris, France and was produced by Jacques Lubin. The recording engineer was Gerhard Lehner, the liner notes were written by Alexandre Rado, and the photography by Christian Rose.

1. It Don’t Mean A Thing (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills) ~
2. Let’s Do It (Cole Porter) ~
3. Sam Woodyard Is Back In Town (Gérard Badini) ~
4. Cute (Neal Hefti)
5. Asphodèle (Raymon Fol) ~
6. Stomp, Lok And Listen ( Duke Ellington) ~

• Michel Gaudry ~ Double Bass
• Drums – Sam Woodyard ~ Drums
• Raymond Fol ~ Piano, Celesta
• Gérard Badini ~ Tenor Saxophone

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T.K. BLUE/BILLY HARPER

T.K. Blue/Billy Harper: “The Magic of Randy Weston and Melba Liston”

T.K. Blue and Billy Harper in collaboration for a tribute to T.K.’s long-time band-leader and mentor NEA Jazz Master Dr. Randy Weston and the extraordinary Trombonist/Arranger/Composer/Educator Melba Liston! Enjoy 3 nights of performances Live & Online at Keystone Korner Baltimore, Fri-Sun, July 8-10!

T.K.Blue, alto and soprano sax, flute, kalimba
Billy Harper, tenor sax
Eric Kennedy, drums
Janelle Gill, piano
Obasi Akoto, bass

Showtimes: 7:30 & 10:00 pm

Streaming: Fri, Sat, Sun ~ $10 + $1.70 fee

Live: Fri, Sat, Sun ~ $35 – $45 + $3.46 – $4.16 fee

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Luther Thomas was born on June 23, 1950 in St. Louis, Missouri. Known for his free jazz playing and drawing from funk. Coming out of the Black Artists Group (BAG) of St. Louis in the late Sixties, he was one of the original voices from a scene that also bred such names as Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, John Zorn and Joseph Bowie.

Luther played in the Human Arts Ensemble with Charles Bobo Shaw in the 1970s, and led a group called Dizzazz in the early 1980s. He played saxophone for James Chance and the Contortions.

As a leader he had recording sessions from the early 1970s he has recorded eleven albums. They have been reissued on CD as part of Atavistic Records’ Unheard Music Series. In 1998 he settled in Denmark and became a cult musician in Christiania Freetown, performing there weekly.

Alto saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Luther Thomas was a completely intuitive improvisor and a free spirit who reached a level of intensity on the saxophone reached by very few others, transitioned at the age of 59 on September 8, 2009 in Denmark.

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