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?

A Few Hundred Words About Charlie Rouse

no pressure...but Monk's watching

Yesterday I tossed Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophonist, at you without much preamble or story. I was too damned cold and barely had feeling in my digits to post to the blog. Yes, it was that cold. Still is. 

Charlie Rouse was born in Washington D.C., so he grew up with some snow over the winter, but has that city ever seen -40 degree temperatures? Doubtful. That city is all about the heat. Not some sort of metaphorical heat linked to his status as seat of government, but literal heat with records being broken each summer.

Rouse knew about heat, some of the metaphorical kind, as sax player in Thelonious Monk’s band from 1959-1970. This was not an easy gig. Monk could be a tough boss, as a genius can be I guess, and he expected his players to be able to pick up what he wanted from them quickly and without much direction. He didn't want players to learn from a written score since he felt learning without it helped them understand the music on a deeper level. 

Rouse seemed to fit in with the eccentric player and he played on many Monk albums in the 1960s including the all-time classics “Criss Cross”, and “Monk’s Dream”.

rouse on sax, watkins on french horn

In the 1950s, Rouse made several albums with Julius Watkins, who is, as far as I know, the only French horn player in jazz. Okay, surely there are others out there but I’ve never heard of them. They formed a group called The Jazz Modes and I like some of their recordings, but as soon as vocals kick in on some of the tracks…I’m out. It dates the record. 

You could always find those albums and make a playlist out of the non-vocal tracks if you care to. Have a listen to them on Bohemia.

This band also features the obscure and fabulous Gildo Mahones, who didn’t record nearly enough under his own name.

Years after Monk's band, Rouse played on one of my favourite live albums, and one that I’ve discussed before, “The Seagulls of Kristiansund” (Soul Note, 1987) by the Mal Waldron Quartet. That album also features Woody Shaw and is essential listening.

Charlie Rouse is a fantastic player and I know you like Monk and have listened to him often, so you’re probably familiar with his outstanding talent without realizing it.

I hope this makes up for yesterday's brevity.

A Unique Take on Monk by Miles Okazaki

This train is worth a ride

If I were to tell you that a jazz musician has put out an album called “The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk for Solo Guitar” would your first thought be, like mine, that that album couldn’t work. I mean, one of the great eccentric pianists, a man who played the keys unlike anyone before or since, can’t be brought to life on six strings can it?

If you’ve got the skill of Miles Okazaki, you can pull it off with style.

Trust me my friend, once you listened to Miles Okazaki’s recordings you’d admit, like I did, that these are damn good versions of classic jazz tunes. I’ve been listening to them a lot. I’ll have them spinning tonight.

They’re perfect to write to, perfect for a cocktail party. I urge you to visit his site  http://www.milesokazaki.com/ and listen for yourself. Spend a bit of money and buy it while you’re there.

Remember that? When we used to buy music? Go retro and show Miles some love.

What's Spinning Today

Monk, Monk, Monk.

He is on my mind a lot lately as I am reading the excellent new bio (Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley) so I put on my Monk playlist which contains a dozen or so albums.  If you don't know Monk, do yourself a favour and learn.

I would help steer you in the right direction,as he did record an awful lot, some of it better than others, but I have a little girl in my arms and her patience is waning.

The Theme

Babies are asleep.
Malay Chicken in Coconut Milk is in the oven.

Paul Chambers is setting the mood with The Theme which he probably played every night when he was with the Miles Davis Quintet, (which had the stellar line-up rounded out by John Coltrane tenor, Red Garland piano and Philly Jo Jones drums).

[My wife didn't enjoy the track that was on previously: Charles Tolliver's attacking brilliance demonstrated on Impact. Hit it certainly does.  The electric bass has me playing this track several times a day in between the gentle tones of Walt Dickerson, of To My Queen fame. More on Charles Tolliver's in a later post, my friends.]

Just before dinner was prepared I read about Mr. Chambers in the new Monk biography, stating that when Monk first met Mr. Chambers through Coltrane:

Chambers was jazz's golden child... and Down Beat critics were about to anoint him 'New Star' on bass...

 I knew my faith in him was well placed.

Ahh, the basmati is ready.  Good night for now. Let's allow Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else to lead us to dinner.