Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Michel De Villers was born July 13, 1926 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France and learned to play alto saxophone as a teenager. He would later expand to clarinet and baritone saxophone. Playing in the latter half of the 1940s with Jean-Claude Fohrenbach, Django Reinhardt and Rex Stewart, he then joined the Edward VII Theatre band in Paris. 

In the 1950s he worked in the bands of Geo Daly, Jack Diéval, André Persiany, and Gérard Pochonet. He also played with touring American musicians such as Buck Clayton, Bill Coleman, Jonah Jones, and Lucky Thompson. The Seventies saw De Villers as less active as a musician, working as a jazz writer and radio screenwriter. In the 1980s he became active again as an educator and performer, working later in his career with Christian Garros, Pierre Michelot, Roger Guérin, and Marc Fosset.

Saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader Michel De Villers October 25, 1992, Mont St. Aignan, France.

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Three Wishes

When the Baroness inquired of Ira Jackson what his three wishes were and he replied:

1. 1. “My wishes have nothing to do with my music, directly. This has puzzled me all my life. I wish I could make a trip through the entire universe. I’d like to find the key to the univeerse, how it all started, what it is really. What is this? That’s be my first wish.”

   2. “And then, the second, I… since I have to live on this planet, I wish there was peace here. That’s about all for the second wish. ”

   3. “I just wish I could use all of my mind, all of my potential I’m working on that anyway. Like one works on scales, you know? You can practice using it. That’s what it would be.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Charles Redland was born Carl Gustaf Mauritz Nilsson on July 7, 1911 in Södertälje, Sweden. The son of a musician, he learned several instruments when he was young.

In the 1930s he was a member of bands in which he played alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. During that decade he also worked as a leader.

On clarinet, he recorded with Benny Carter in Sweden in 1936. He composed and arranged jazz and popular music. He also composed for more than 80 films, as well as for radio and television programs. Alto saxophonist, Charles Redland passed away on August 18, 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden.

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Requisites

Heads Up ~ David Newman | By Eddie Carter

Up next from the library is an album by the flutist, alto, and tenor saxophonist, David Newman. Heads Up (Atlantic 81725-1) finds him leading a first-rate quintet with Kirk Lightsey on piano; Steve Nelson on vibraphone; David Williams on bass and Eddie Gladden on drums. My copy used in this report is the original 1987 Stereo release.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Fats Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf starts Side One at a slow ballad tempo.  The song premiered at the Harlem club Connie’s Inn and was the opening tune for the 1929 all-black musical revue, Hot Chocolates.  The show was so successful it ran on Broadway for 219 performances, and Louis Armstrong performed the first instrumental version during the intermission. Kirk opens with a tender introduction that gently grows into David’s seductive melody. Newman also delivers a beautiful work of richness and sincerity on the lead solo.  Kirk and Steve split the next few verses, each man offering a romantic sensitivity before a pretty closing chorus.

Makin’ Whoopee is by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn, first appearing in the 1928 Broadway musical Whoopee, the song was sung by Eddie Cantor who reprised it two years later in the 1930 film. The quintet proceeds smoothly from the introduction to the opening chorus led by Newman who also casts a distinct voice with expressive beauty on the first reading. Nelson also gives an enticing presentation on the second solo. Williams is as sweet as honey on the third statement with an exquisite tone and Lightsey makes the final statement a delightfully nostalgic performance into the coda. Newman’s Heads Up comes at you next vivaciously with David taking off first with a rocking beat compelling one to snap their fingers and tap their toes. Steve conveys a festive celebration on the second reading, then Kirk dazzles with the vigorous zest of a sanctified church service. David sums everything up with a few short comments leading to the group’s finale.

Newman opens Side Two on flute for an upbeat rendition of Delilah by Victor Young. It’s a catchy 1954 tune with the quintet producing a vibrant melody.  David’s opening solo is delivered with abundant spirit and energy. Kirk steps up next with driving ambition, then Nelson takes the final bow with driving ambition and dexterity. Lover Man by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman slows the pace with the leader back on tenor sax. After the ensemble’s ravishingly beautiful theme, David demonstrates his rhythmic mastery with grace and elegance. Kirk etches a delicately thoughtful presentation next, then Steve follows with an amorously tender interpretation. Newman closes with a few sultry comments before the warm-hearted ending. For Buster, David’s second original closes the album with the leader on alto-sax expressing a down-home blues flavor. Newman and Nelson are the featured soloists and each man offers an interpretation eminently fitting for the blues into David’s earthy reprise and climax.

Heads Up was engineered by Tony May whose work has appeared on many Jazz, Latin, Pop, and Soul albums. His assistant Ira McLaughlin has worked on albums for Atlantic, CBS, and Profile Records. This album was digitally recorded and has a highly effective soundstage placing the musicians in the center of your listening room. David Newman who the jazz world would come to know as “Fathead” originally worked with Ray Charles and had a prolific career recording albums of Hard-Bop, Post-Bop, Soul-Jazz, Jazz-Funk, and Jazz-Fusion for another twenty-one years after Heads Up was released. He passed away at the age of seventy-five on January 20, 2009, from pancreatic cancer. If you’re seeking an album displaying his skills as a composer and multi-instrumentalist, consider this your Heads Up!

Heads Up is an album by saxophonist David Newman recorded at the Atlantic Recording Studios in New York City on September 16~18, 1986 and released in 1987 on the Atlantic Records label.

Track List | 37:55

1. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Fats Waller, Andy Razaf) 7:40
2. Makin’ Whoopee (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) 8:24
3. Heads Up (David Newman) 6:21
4. Delilah (Clifford Brown) 7:22
5. Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez, James Sherman) 9:52
6. For Buster” (Newman) :41

• David Newman – tenor saxophone, flute
• Steve Nelson – vibraphone
• Kirk Lightsey – piano
• David Williams – bass
• Eddie Gladden – drums

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Harlan Leonard was born on July 2, 1905 in Kansas City, Missouri. He started his career in the Territory Band of George E. Lee in 1923, then moved to Benny Moten in 1924 and joined Thamon Hayes ‘ Kansas City Rockets in 1931 with several other musicians from the band. Disbanded in 1934, they formed the basis of the new Moten Orchestra. After Moten’s death in 1935, Leonard founded his own group, bringing several Moten musicians which became Harlan Leonard and his Rockets, and soon was one of the most famous bands in Kansas City.

After Count Basie’s departure for new YorkCity, he and Jay McShann were the strongest rivals. When the first Leonard band fell apart in 1936, he then took over the musicians of the Jimmy Keith band in 1937/38. In 1938 the young Charlie Parker also belonged to the band for five weeks but was dismissed because of unreliability.

In Chicago, Illinois in 1940, the band along with singer Myra Taylor recorded sessions for Victor Records. Returning to Kansas City in 1941, they toured the Midwest, then went to New York City but were unsuccessful so they returned home. Early 1943 Leonard went on a West Coast tour, playing one-nighters and a year engagement in Los Angeles, California.

After the band’s disbandment, Leonard remained in the Los Angeles area, performing occasionally in local clubs until retiring from the music business and working for the Internal Revenue Service.

Clarinetist, saxophonist, and Swing bandleader Harlan Leonard, who was one of the leaders of Kansas City Jazz with Jay McShann, and one of the links between the swing and the subsequent bebop, passed away on November 10, 1983.

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