Music to Play While Cooking

Dexter's best?

We were making a lovely dinner Saturday night when you called. We chatted briefly and you noted that there was jazz playing in the background, as there so often is. 

I was feeling upbeat that night so we were listening to one of the great jazz albums “Our Man in Paris” (Blue Note, 1963) by Dexter Gordon. By this point, Gordon was living in Europe and so was the rest of the quartet.

I’m not surprised that so many jazz musicians moved to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. I remember a story I heard about Duke Ellington. He said that one day he was playing a grand performance for Swedish royalty and given every courtesy imaginable, and then he came back to the USA and couldn’t stay in the same hotel as whites. I’m surprised MORE jazz musicians didn’t move to Europe. They didn't face the same level of discrimination and jazz was seen as the art form that it is.

Here's the band:

Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone

Bud Powell – piano

Pierre Michelot – bass

Kenny Clarke – drums

Other than Michelot, the rest of the band are Legends. Bud Powell is, along with Thelonious Monk, the best pianist of the bebop era, and he died too young, like so many jazz musicians. Kenny Clarke, known as 'Klook', was one of the best jazz drummers ever and he recorded with just about everyone during his long career. In a nice change, he did not die young and lived until he was 71, which might be below the national average, but is positively ancient compared to other jazz musicians. Pierre Michelot, as the name would suggest, was a French bassist who doesn't have the credentials as his band mates, but he plays very well on this recording.

Dexter in Paris

The album is fantastic, as you’d expect from this line up and I highly recommend it.

Dinner was great that night and maybe the music helped. Have a listen to A Night in Tunisia and you’ll see why this album is considered one of the greats.

I’m sorry I didn’t invite you for dinner but it had been a busy day fixing broken dishwasher and leaky bathtubs and wasn’t up for entertaining. Rain check?

Regrets, Milt

I told you it would happen. I love 'Bag's Opus' but lately I have been listening to 'Bags and Trane', which is an incredible album Milt recorded with John Coltrane and an all-star line-up in 1959. Perhaps I should have named it the #7 album that all humans should own. Shall we call it #7.5?

two of the greatest

Have a listen to the title track and as soon as you hear the great Hank Jones play that opening riff you know you are in for something special. Milt and John have a great repoir. My man Paul Chambers plays some great bass as well and Kenny Clarke is great on drums, as he always is.

This really is a stellar disc and I can't recommend it highly enough. It was recorded the year before Coltrane released his seminal 'Giant Steps' and began to create one of the great bodies of work in modern jazz.

The Piano Player in my Dreams is Named Phineas?

Though I have little acuity on the keys, when I dream I am often a gifted jazz pianist. I wake and feel certain that if I were to have a piano placed in front of me I would be able to play; that the unconscious ability would remain for at least a moment. They are vivid and joyous dreams.

the best men wear glasses

Today I realized that when I am dreaming, my piano playing sounds like that of Phineas Newborn, Jr.

Now I admit I have heard the name, and even heard some of his music but I never really heard it until today. That is, I never heard it while I was awake...

I read a great article at Jazz Profiles that prompted me to listen to his album 'Here Is Phineas' that features the great Oscar Pettiford on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. The fact that the album is subtitled 'The Piano Artistry of Phineas Newborn Jr' should give you some idea of the breathtaking nature of the 23-year-old's recording debut. It's an incredible display of virtuosity that I can't recommend highly enough to fans of jazz piano.

Phineas, like Monk, Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum (quite the list of names to be placed with!) has a unique voice that will surely become instantly recognizable to me after a few more listens. I suspect my collection of Phineas (pronounced by him as 'Fine as' by the way) will be growing in the coming weeks. Lucky me!

I hope when I sleep tonight I will again sound like this.