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Sonny Cox (alto)
Commented Sep 2, 2010 on JazzWax List: The Sonny Band at JazzWax
JazzWax List: The Sonny Band
During the 1940s and 1950s, many jazz musicians had nicknames. Some were bestowed on them by band members. Others were affixed by parents or friends while they were growing up. One of the most popular sobriquets during this period was "Sonny." It seems to have been given most often by parents ...
P.P.S. Compositions by Loesser and Lowe
Commented Aug 20, 2010 on JazzWax List: The Midgets at JazzWax
JazzWax List: The Midgets
Last Friday, I assembled a band based on the beefy names of artists. This week, I offer a new ensemble featuring musicians with mini monikers or slight of height names. For those adding Comments, this list is about the names only, not whether they were truly big or small: Peanuts Hucko (clari...
P.S. Minor Hall
Commented Aug 20, 2010 on JazzWax List: The Midgets at JazzWax
JazzWax List: The Midgets
Last Friday, I assembled a band based on the beefy names of artists. This week, I offer a new ensemble featuring musicians with mini monikers or slight of height names. For those adding Comments, this list is about the names only, not whether they were truly big or small: Peanuts Hucko (clari...
Shorts McConnell
Shorty Baker
Pee Wee Russell
Pee Wee Hunt
Pee Wee Moore
Joe Newman and Frank Wess ("Midgets")
Commented Aug 20, 2010 on JazzWax List: The Midgets at JazzWax
JazzWax List: The Midgets
Last Friday, I assembled a band based on the beefy names of artists. This week, I offer a new ensemble featuring musicians with mini monikers or slight of height names. For those adding Comments, this list is about the names only, not whether they were truly big or small: Peanuts Hucko (clari...
Mr Five By Five (aka Jimmy Rushing, vocals)
Big Nick Nicholas (tenor)
Fats Sadi (French vibist)
Big Maybelle (vocals)
Commented Aug 13, 2010 on JazzWax List: Giants of Jazz at JazzWax
JazzWax List: Giants of Jazz
Extra-large jazz artists typically wound up with colorful nicknames that suited their silhouettes. But what if we were to assemble an ensemble of musicians whose names fit the bill, forgetting about whether or not they were contemporaries or even that portly? Here's my list of entries for our ...
Can I guess the trumpeter who solos on "Cheek To Cheek"? It's the wonderful Don Fagerquist!
Commented Apr 28, 2010 on Interview: Herb Geller (Part 2) at JazzWax
Interview: Herb Geller (Part 2)
From his earliest small-group recording session with trumpeter Tony Fruscella in February 1952, Herb Geller's sound on the alto saxophone was distinct and vibrant. There was enormous power, spidery speed, seamless ideas and a soaring tone that immediately commanded attention. Though he would be...
Erratum: The disc referred to in the above post should have been "A Message from NEWPORT". Sorry!
Commented Apr 7, 2010 on Interview: John Bunch (Part 2) at JazzWax
Interview: John Bunch (Part 2)
The late John Bunch is best remembered as an elegant trio pianist. But back in the late 1950s and into the 1960s and 1970s, John played fearlessly in some of the best big bands still touring and recording. The list includes one of the most revered band recordings of the late 1950s, Maynard Fer...
Nice to see recognition of "A Message from Birdland" as "one of the most revered band recordings of the late 1950s". So why has no one re-issued it? It must be one of the most glaring absences from my record collection!
Commented Apr 7, 2010 on Interview: John Bunch (Part 2) at JazzWax
Interview: John Bunch (Part 2)
The late John Bunch is best remembered as an elegant trio pianist. But back in the late 1950s and into the 1960s and 1970s, John played fearlessly in some of the best big bands still touring and recording. The list includes one of the most revered band recordings of the late 1950s, Maynard Fer...
Shorty's 1980's renaissance was keenly felt here in the UK. The RCA re-issue of his 1950's big band classics, "Blues Express", shot to the top of the British jazz record charts and his tour with NYJO created quite a stir. I was lucky enough to see them at the Davenport Theatre in Stockport, Greater Manchester. I recall there was one new composition, which Shorty, well aware of the jazz connotations of the venue's name, called "Davenport" - a wonderful composition and arrangement, which was probably never recorded.
Commented Feb 9, 2010 on Shorty Rogers: Re-Entry at JazzWax
Shorty Rogers: Re-Entry
In 1969, trumpeter Shorty Rogers stopped recording. He was simply too busy to keep up with the practicing necessary to handle the endurance of a studio session. The flood of work in Hollywood compelled him to focus on composing, arranging and orchestrating for television and the movies. Rogers...
Interesting to hear how Jimmy, an East Coast musician, managed to get his compositions out of prison and how they were first recorded on the West Coast by a Chet Baker group. There was clearly a link between the two, as Chet also recorded three Jimmy Heath arrangements in that year (1956) with an eleven-piece group on "Chet Baker Big Band". I first heard Jimmy's "For Minors Only" and "For Miles and Miles" in about 1959 played on a 1957 album, "Hard Drive" by the Art Blakey Jazz Messengers that included Johnny Griffin, Bill Hardman and Junior Mance. I think it was then that these compositions found their true hard bop home!
Commented Oct 23, 2009 on Interview: Jimmy Heath (Part 2) at JazzWax
Interview: Jimmy Heath (Part 2)
Up until 1952, Jimmy Heath's instrument was the alto saxophone. A fast study, Jimmy sounded almost identical to Charlie Parker, earning him the nickname "Little Bird." But the novelty of mimicking Parker soon wore thin, especially as the tenor saxophone emerged in the early 1950s as the more p...
Fine post, Marc! "Grand Encounter" and "On Stage" are favorites in my record collection. I was lucky enough to hear Perkins in the 90s with a latter-day Bill Holman orchestra at the Wigan Jazz Festival here in Greater Manchester UK.
Commented Oct 9, 2009 on Bill Perkins: On Stage at JazzWax
Bill Perkins: On Stage
Tenor Saxophonist Bill Perkins' first album as a leader was On Stage for Pacific Jazz Records. In February 1956, "Perk" or "Phineas" assembled an impressive octet and reached out to California's leading arrangers of the day for charts. What makes On Stage special is Perkins' saxophone sound, wh...
So interesting - and surprising - to find Pat Smythe mentioned in this context. I saw him several times in the early 1960s when he was with the Joe Harriott Quintet. IIRC he gave up a career as a lawyer to dedicate himself to jazz piano.
Commented Sep 17, 2009 on Interview: Meredith d'Ambrosio (Pt 4) at JazzWax
Interview: Meredith d'Ambrosio (Pt 4)
Meredith d'Ambrosio's voice comes closest to Bill Evans' sound on the piano of any vocalists I know. Both artists' recorded works are deeply poetic and worship space. Unfortunately, Evans and Meredith never recorded together, though the union would have been a near-perfect marriage of styles. ...
I have just bought "Go West Young Med" unheard on the strength of the comments here. Last time I did this, I ended up with a winner: "Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements", so am confident of a good outcome this time!
Commented Jul 28, 2009 on Interview: Med Flory (Part 1) at JazzWax
Interview: Med Flory (Part 1)
Med Flory is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Supersax, the commercially successful reed ensemble started in 1972 that plays transcriptions of Charlie Parker's solos. But before Supersax, Med was one of the most dynamic alto saxophonists, arrangers and bandleaders on the New York and Lo...
Superb clip, Marc! I've been a fan of Sing a Song of Basie since it first came out.
Commented Jul 14, 2009 on Interview: Jon Hendricks (Part 2) at JazzWax
Interview: Jon Hendricks (Part 2)
Jon Hendricks thinks like a saxophonist curled up in a bass drum. His sense of timing has always been rooted in his early skills on the snare and cymbals. His gift for wordplay comes from curiosity and a deep passion for literature. And his swing? Well, that's a New York thing—an early 1950s m...
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