Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Joseph Harold Holmes was born in Montreal, Canada on June 8. 1916 and began playing cornet at 10, briefly studying with C. Van Camp. After playing trumpet for a year in 1940 in a co-operative band, the Escorts, he took over its leadership 1941-50.

Under the name Johnny Holmes Orchestra, they played Saturday nights at Victoria Hall in Montreal, broadcasted on CBC radio, and occasionally toured Canada’s Quebec and Ontario. One of Montreal’s leading dance bands of the day, it boasted a healthy jazz quotient and benefited from Holmes’ ability to identify talented young musicians. His sidemen included, at various times, Nick Ayoub, Al Baculis, Percy and Maynard Ferguson, Bud Hayward, Art Morrow, and Oscar Peterson. Lorraine McAllister and Sheila Graham, in turn, sang with the band.

Retiring from music from 1951 to 1959, he reemerged and from 1959 to 1969 was heard on CBC radio in The Johnny Holmes Show, Broadway Holiday, and others. Holmes’ orchestras made several broadcast recordings between 1966 and 1973 for the CBC’s LM series. He continued to perform periodically until his final retirement from music in 1978.

Trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, composer Johnny Holmes, who wrote more than 40 songs and many arrangements for his orchestra and his radio shows and has no available recordings online, transitioned on June 11, 1989.

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

The Jazz Voyager has selected from the shelves in his library and dusted off an album by Art Farmer recorded in 1962 titled Early Art. The album features two sessions recorded in 1954 which was originally released on LP on the New Jazz label in 1962.

The album was produced by Bob Weinstock and recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey on January 20 (tracks 1-3, 5) and November 9 (tracks 4, 6-10). The cover design and photography was by Don Schlitten and the liner notes were written by Joe Goldberg.

The programming differs from what is listed, with Soft Shoe (which should have been the opener) is actually appearing fifth and the songs listed as appearing second through fifth have moved up to first through fourth. The Jazz Voyager is pleased to present this work by Farmer and is still practicing social distancing and wearing his mask.

1. Confab in Tempo ~ 3:54
2. I’ll Take Romance (Oscar Hammerstein II, Ben Oakland) ~ 4:57
3. Wisteria ~ 4:32
4. Autumn Nocturne (Kim Gannon, Josef Myrow) ~ 4:05
5. Soft Shoe ~ 4:59
6. I’ve Never Been in Love Before (Frank Loesser) ~ 3:49
7. I’ll Walk Alone (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn) ~ 3:55
8. Gone With the Wind (Herbert Magidson, Allie Wrubel) ~ 4:07
9. Alone Together (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) ~ 3:59
10. Pre Amp ~ 3:35

• Art Farmer ~ trumpet
• Sonny Rollins ~ tenor saxophone (tracks 1-3,5)
• Horace Silver (tracks 1-3, 5), Wynton Kelly (tracks 4, 6-10) ~ piano
• Percy Heath (tracks 1-3, 5), Addison Farmer (tracks 4, 6-10) ~ bass
• Kenny Clarke (tracks 1-3, 5), Herbie Lovelle (tracks 4, 6-10) ~ drums

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sylvester Ahola was born on May 24, 1902 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. His parents, Sophia and John Ahola, were born in Finland. He became most popular in England rather than the United States.

He first began performing with Frank Ward and His Orchestra. In 1925 he started playing with Paul Specht and His Orchestra, with whom he did a two-month-long tour of England that following year. For the next couple of years he performed with bands like The California Ramblers and Adrian Rollini and his band.

1927 saw Ahola moving to England and landing a job playing with the Savoy Orpheans. He went on to gig with Bert Firman and Bert Ambrose. The British Musicians’ Union, unhappy to see a foreigner land so many jobs and attain so much success, effectively prohibited him from playing with anyone other than Bert Ambrose. This forced him to eventually leave in 1931 and return to New York City.

Throughout the rest of his career he never again achieved the level of success he had enjoyed during his time in England. Trumpeter and cornetist Sylvester Ahola, also known as Hooley, transitioned on February 13, 1995.

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Contrary to the announcement that the pandemic is over and the unmasking the country has clearly exhibited, a variant is still present and this Jazz Voyager is getting out remains distant from crowds and enclosed spaces. So we will continue to listen to great music.

My selection this week is the Complete Studio Recordings, a two compact disc set whose songs were recorded between 1956 and 1958 by the Curtis Counce Quintet composed of Counce, Jack Sheldon, Harold Land, Carl Perkins and Frank Butler went into the studio of Contemporary Records and recorded twenty-four songs. Though the group was short~lived, their impact produced a powerhouse two-disc set of music comprising the main recordings on the Contemporary label.

The group’s expressed purpose was to develop a West Coast answer to the soulful, hard-bop East Coast sound. Each of the musicians was among the most gifted on his instrument, yet the focus was always on a collaborative result that would reflect undiscovered possibilities within a familiar post-bop idiom. Seldom does a group of musicians come together and play so seamlessly that they sound like one voice speaking. The contribution of each of the five principals, therefore, invites close scrutiny.

The beauty of the recorded disc is that it is a lasting tribute to the musicians who performed on this recording. Lester Koenig at Contemporary Records was known for extremely high audio standards and turned out some of the best-sounding records of the day thanks to the expertise of engineer Roy DuNann. The audio on these Contemporary dates is rich in depth and detailing, allowing the listener to pick out each of the subordinate motifs and subtle moving harmonies. The engineering created a naturally ambient soundscape inviting the listener to partake of the worthy.

The caveat is that this music appeared on previously released albums by Curtis Counce and this is an opportunity to pick up the excellence of 24 tracks of music in a one~stop shop. This represents African-American indigenous art of the highest order. Released by Gambit Records in 2007 and definitely one for the collector.

Track Listing | 150:00+

1. Landslide (Harold Land) ~ 8:37
2. Time After Time (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) ~ 6:32
3. Mia (Carl Perkins) ~ 4:55
4. Sarah (Jack Sheldon) ~ 11:38
5. Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 7:14
6. Big Foot (Charlie Parker) ~ 9:07
7. Sonar (Kenny Clarke/Gerald Wiggins) ~ 7:28
8. Stranger In Paradise (Robert Wright/George Forrest) ~ 7:04
9. Woody’n You (Dizzy Gillespie) ~ 6:18
10. Pink Lady (Jack Sheldon) ~ 4:41
11. Councelation (Curtis Counce) ~ 6:05

1. Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 4:56
2. Too Close For Comfort (Larry Holofcener) ~ 5:38
3. How Deep Is The Ocean (Irving Berlin) ~ 6:37
4. Complete (Curtis Counce) ~ 5:52
5. Nica’s Dream (Horace Silver) ~ 8:00
6. How Long Has This Been Going On (George Gershwin/Ira Gerswin) ~ 3:18
7. Mean To Me (Fred E. Ahlert/Roy Turk) ~ 4:31
8. I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke/Ira Gershwin) ~ 8:01
9. Larue (Clifford Brown) ~ 5:04
10. Carl’s Blues (Carl Perkins) ~ 5:54
11. Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie/Frank Paparelli) ~ 8:17
12. Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 2:55
13. Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) ~ 4:10
14. Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 1:56
15. The Butler Did It (Frank Butler) ~ 4:39

Personnel

• Jack Sheldon ~ trumpet
• Harold Land ~ tenor saxophone
• Carl Perkins ~ piano
• Curtis Counce ~ bass
• Frank Butler ~ drums
• Gerald Wilson ~ trumpet (replaces Sheldon on three tracks of disc 2)

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Rhea “Yank” Lawson was born May 3, 1911 in Trenton, Missouri. He started playing music on saxophones and piano before settling on the trumpet as a teenager. He played in the University of Missouri Dance Band, and was soon offered a job with Slatz Randall’s group, with whom he made his recording debut on Mom in 1932. Dropping out of college he had a stint with Wingy Manone before being hired to join Ben Pollack in late 1933.

From 1933 to 1935 Yank worked in the Pollack orchestra, then became a founding member of the Bob Crosby Orchestra. He later worked with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, but also worked with Crosby again in 1941~1942. Later in the decade he became a studio musician leading his own Dixieland sessions.

By the 1950s he and Bob Haggart created the Lawson-Haggart band and they worked together in 1968 to form the World’s Greatest Jazz Band, a Dixieland group which performed for the next ten years. He recorded for Atlantic, Audiophile, Decca and Jazzology.

Trumpeter Yank Lawson, best known for Dixieland and swing music, transitioned on February 18, 1995 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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