Trombone, pt 1

that amazing Blue Note design team...

If you think it is tough to love a baritone sax (as discussed a few posts back...), it may be even more difficult to love the trombone.  Again like the baritone, in the hands of the top few players in jazz it transcends the corniness that one might expect from the horn.


It's almost time to get the kids to bed so I don't have much time to write, but let me direct you towards Curtis Fuller, the fine trombonist who is perhaps most famous for playing on John Coltrane's brilliant 'Blue Train'.  Have a listen to the delightful toe-tapping Quantrale.  Be sure to admire Art Farmer's trumpet work as well as the great Louis Hayes laying down that beat.

What's Spinning Today

Hank Mobley's 'Carolyn' from his brilliant album No Room For Squares (Blue Note, 1963).  If I had to pick one Mobley album (no easy task!) it would be this one.

I love you, Hank Mobley

He has a stellar band.  It was the same cats that played on one anothers sessions and helped make Blue Note the finest label in jazz.

Lee Morgan and Donald Byrd alternate songs on trumpet and two of the finest pianists to come out of the 1960s, Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock alterate songs.  Add the master, Philly Joe Jones on drums and you have the makings of a classic album.  You could pick any track on this album, but 'Carolyn' is playing at the moment.  Lee Morgan wrote it and the band plays it perfectly.  I challenge you to listen to this track and not become, like me, a life-long devotee of Mobley and Morgan.  Enjoy my friends.  I am tired and this song is helping lift my spirits.

Poor Eric

It's been a busy day of babies with each spare moment dedicated to Emmerson Street Press and friends, there's been no time for jazz.

Sadness, yes, yes.

But jazz has been on my mind. I am trying to decide what I will listen to in a couple of hours once babies go to sleep.

Okay, I've made a snap decision.

yet another wicked Blue Note cover

I will listen to 'Poor Eric' as recorded by Jackie McLean's killer band from the mid-60s. It's on the album Right Now! (1965, Blue Note) 

The song, with it's oddly slow dirge-like tempo, was written by the band's pianist, Larry Willis, as an elegy to Eric Dolphy who at age 36 died suddenly from undiagnosed diabetes.

Sounds like a fun song, right?

Perhaps you think it odd that I would choose a song that seems so sombre after such a lovely day; and there is no shortage of sadness in this track, my friends.

Here: listen.

 Be honest, how many of you stopped listening after the first ten seconds?

Wait until 2:33 when Jackie starts his alto sax solo.  He's a genius at melody isn't he?
Bob Cranshaw's bowed bass.  Surely you loved that.  You gotta love a great bass player.
Larry Willis plays an exquisite solo before Jackie takes another solo (and when you can play like Jackie McLean you can solo as much as you want and trust me no one is complaining).

The skill with which this song is played transcends any sad motivation behind it.  By the end of the 10:13 min track, you travel from the sombre to the sublime to the divine.

Yes, friends, it's a great track played by a top-notch band and I look forward to it.

What's Spinning Today

Hank Mobley's 'Curtain Call'. If you have been reading along, my friends, than you know that I have a fondness for Hank Mobley. His tone is so rich and those Blue Note albums sound so good. Hard to believe the recording quality that they were getting back in 1960 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Blue Note head Alfred Lion had such high standards that he didn't release this album and it wasn't available until the mid-1980s! Perhaps my ears aren't as well-tuned as Mr. Lion's, but this album is a welcome addition to my Mobley collection.  Kenny Dorham is on trumpet and the two had played together a great deal and their familiarity and interplay helps make this album.

Perhaps if you are going to build your own Mobley collection you should defer to Mr. Lion (who knows what he is talking about since I have mentioned more than once that Blue Note is the greatest) and start with a different Mobley.  I would recommend 'Soul Station' or 'No Room For Squares' (one of my favourite titles ever, and one of my favourite album covers. I love Blue Note!).

It is a mellow evening here on the 20th floor. Babies are sleeping and The Jimmy Giuffre 3's delightful 'The Easy Way' is lulling me to a state of complete contentment.

Early morning Joe

As my wife and I were feeding our babies at 6:36am this morning, I clicked on Galaxie Jazz and who should serenade us but our old friend Joe Henderson (I admit I am surprised by how often he has been mentioned in this blog!) playing Portrait, a beautiful ballad that I believe is from the early 60's Blue Note recordings.

Next comes Vince Guaraldi's Linus & Lucy, which my wife loved, and why not? How many of us were introduced to jazz by Charlie Brown cartoons?

Grant Green on guitar

-I wish Bill Evans would have played this, I said.

She thought the original version was just fine, and she is undoubtedly correct.

Two hours later, after grandparents had fed our babies their second last bottle before the journey home, we go back downstairs and Grant Green's Sookie, Sookie is playing, another Blue Note classic.  See my friends? Blue Note is everywhere! Even our our blue-eyed babies love the label (or am I projecting?)

Learning Jazz - Where to Begin?

It may be an intimidating task to someone new to jazz to discover just who it is they like. Perhaps you don’t have the time or the inclination I did as a teen to sit through all of those mediocre/uninspiring LPs before stumbling onto Charles Mingus. Well, my friends, let me save you some time. I have already done the legwork (or earwork?) so let me share.

I will not give a list of top albums in this post (surely that will come at some point) as I am not convinced that is the best place to begin. Instead may I suggest the compilation. The benefit of a collection is that it gives you a variety of musicians to whet your appetite and then you can track down more by the artists that you liked the best.

So here is a recommendation to those who are just beginning what I hope will be a life-long love of jazz:

The Blue Box. This is a four disc set that contains the best music released by Blue Note, to me, the premiere jazz label. The tracks listing truly is a who’s who and has some of my all time favourite tracks including:

Una Mas - Kenny Dorham (with Joe Henderson of Waltz for Zweetie fame on tenor sax!)

Summertime - Sidney Bechet (the volatile master of the soprano sax. My second favourite version of this song - Billy Stewart is solidly number one)

Blue Train - John Coltrane (with my man Paul Chambers on bass and Lee Morgan on trumpet!)

Sidewinder - Lee Morgan (Joe Henderson plays on this one too!)

Blue Bossa - Joe Henderson (with Kenny Dorham on trumpet and McCoy Tyner on piano how can you go wrong??)

Song for my Father - Horace Silver (a great upbeat song that raises the bar pretty high for any son trying to write a tribute for their dad! )

Okay, if you aren’t already running out the door to pick up this set, the kicker is that it is only $20ish bucks - a real bargain. It will likely prove expensive in the long run as it will make you want to buy more and more and more. Who can have enough music by these guys?? Not me, and perhaps soon, not you.

More recommendations will come, my friends, but my cup of espresso is cooling next to me on this cold northern morning, and I should really gulp it down before it turns bitter.