by Scott Yanow
Performing solo and holding onto one’s interest for a 90 minute show can be difficult. If the artist is an instrumentalist, then it greatly helps if the musician is a virtuoso, plays a wide variety of material, tells interesting stories to the audience, is witty, and regularly smiles. Guitarist Diego Figueiredo does all of that and more.
The Brazilian guitarist performed at Catalina Bar & Grill and kept the audience enthralled the entire time. He performed such numbers as “Over The Rainbow”(as a medium-tempo waltz), “Brazil,” a Jobim medley that included “Wave,” “Desafinado,” “One Note Samba,” and “The Girl From Ipanema,” “All The Things You Are,” “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps,” “Besame Mucho,” “Moonlight Serenade,” “Tea For Two,” “Misty” (which recalled Joe Pass a bit), an adventurous version of “Take Five,” “Tico Tico,” and “Malaguena.” While most of the standards that he chose to perform were familiar, his improvisations were full of surprises and had occasional song quotes from elsewhere, keeping one guessing.
One never longed for the inclusion of other instruments for Diego Figueiredo is an orchestra by himself. His recordings (often for the Arbors label) and live performances should never be missed.
NOAH HADJU
To celebrate the release of his recent CD Standards III, pianist Noah Hadju performed at Catalina’s in a trio with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White. Hadju displayed his own fresh chord voicings and inventive ideas on a variety of standards. While White was mostly heard in a quietly supportive role, Williams continually created bass lines that were full of subtle surprises that clearly inspired the pianist.
Among the songs that the trio performed were “Alone Together,” “I Got It Bad,” “What A Difference A Day Made” (played at a perfect slow-medium tempo), a partly disguised “Teach Me Tonight,” and an uptempo “Just One Of Those Things.” Hadju also played a couple of his originals including playing unaccompanied on a dark ballad.
The crowd was justifiably enthusiastic throughout the swinging performances. While Noah Hadju is not yet as well-known as his famous veteran sidemen, he is clearly on his way.
One of the joys of being a jazz record collector of vintage greats is that there are constantly new concert and club recordings being put out that went unheard during the artist’s lifetime. The Lost Recordings (www.thelostrecordings.store), which is based in France, has made available a series of previously unreleased live sessions by major jazz innovators. The music is very well recorded (audiophiles will be impressed) and, while the releases are not inexpensive, completists and those who love these specific artists will want to hear the formerly rare music. Three of their recent releases are covered here.
Duke Ellington’s Live At The Berlin Jazz Festival 1969-1973 consists of a pair of mini sets. The 1973 portion has Ellington leading a sextet taken from his orchestra with the focus being mostly on his piano playing. In his later years, with the passing and departure of many of his long-time sidemen, that was often the case. “Piano Improvisation No. 1” is a thoughtful and fascinating piece that has Ellington thinking aloud at the piano while he composes a little mini-suite. “Take The ‘A’ Train” has Duke perform his usual opening two-chorus piano solo but then, since his orchestra is not present, he continues playing. Eventually trumpeter Money Johnson joins in along with the other horns (baritonist Harry Carney and a barely heard Paul Gonsalves on tenor) with the trumpeter soloing until its end. “Pitter Panther Patter,” originally recorded over 30 years earlier as a duet with bassist Jimmy Blanton, has Duke interacting with bassist Joe Benjamin, “Sophisticated Lady” features Carney (although surprisingly he does not display his usual circular breathing on the piece), and tap dancer Baby Laurence wraps up this portion by being featured tapping on a blues with the rhythm section (which includes drummer Rocky White).
The Nov. 8, 1969 half of the CD has the full Ellington Orchestra. The exotic and dramatic “La Plus Belle Africaine” features Victor Gaskin’s bowed bass and Carney, the remarkable high-note trumpeter Cat Anderson is showcased on “El Gato,” and trumpeter Benny Bailey (a worthy substitute who was with Ellington for less than a week) is in the spotlight for “I Can’t Get Started.” There are brief renditions of “Caravan” and “Mood Indigo” (with clarinetist Russell Procope and trombonist Lawrence Brown) that I imagine were taken from a lengthier medley. “Satin Doll” with organist Wild Bill Davis and a stratospheric high-note chorus from Cat Anderson is not quite on the level of the version from Ellington’s 70th Birthday Concert album because Anderson is a bit off mike. The intriguing CD concludes with Ellington’s solo piano on the moody “Meditation.”
Thelonious Monk Live At Rotterdam 1967 is a two-CD set from Oct. 28, 1967 that is a bit unusual. The innovative pianist-composer was at the height of his fame at the time, leading a quartet that included tenor-saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales, and drummer Ben Riley. However on this European tour, Monk augmented his group on some numbers with up to five horns. Unfortunately no arrangements were written for the short-lived nonet, resulting in their portions sounding like a loose jam session. “Ruby My Dear” and “Hackensack” feature Monk and Rouse in top form with the quartet with the well-recorded Riley adding to the general excitement. Trumpeter Ray Copeland makes a false entrance on “We See” (coming in when Monk was starting to solo) and one hears the song being cut off and then restarted. “Epistrophy” has Copeland and tenor-saxophonist Johnny Griffin getting chances to solo while altoist Phil Woods joins in on “Evidence.” Monk takes “Don’t Blame Me” as a wonderful stride-filled piano solo that is one of this release’s highpoints, “Oska T” has Copeland, Griffin, and trombonist Jimmy Cleveland getting their spots, and flugelhornist Clark Terry is featured on the closing “Blue Monk.” While the all-star nonet does not live up to the potential (someone should have gotten Hal Overton to write some colorful arrangements), the playing of Monk and Rouse makes this twofer quite worthwhile.
Of the three releases, Ella Fitzgerald Live At The Concertgebouw 1961 is the prize. It features the great Ella, who was 43 at the time, at the peak of her powers. After a minor-toned instrumental blues by her excellent rhythm section (pianist Lou Levy, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Wilfred Middlebrooks, and drummer Gus Johnson), Ella sings 13 songs. She is quite effective on the ballads (including “How Long Has This Been Going On,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “I’ve Got A Crush On You”) but it is the exuberant “On A Slow Boat To China,” a rather nutty “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” a definitive “Mr. Paganini,” and blazing versions of “That Old Black Magic,” “Lover Come Back To Me,” “Mack The Knife,” and “St. Louis Blues” that take honors. No one could outswing Ella and she sounds quite joyful throughout the memorable concert. One can never have too many Ella Fitzgerald records!
ERIC DOLPHY – JAZZ REVOLUTIONARY
Eric Dolphy (1928-64) was a unique figure in jazz history. By 1960 he had developed strikingly original and very different styles on alto-sax, flute, and bass clarinet. While technically skilled and easily able to read the most difficult parts as a sideman, blending effortlessly into the background when it was required (he probably could have spent his life as a studio musician), his solos were very distinctive, full of fresh ideas, and sounded unlike anyone else. Due to a medical foul-up, the clean-living musician only lived to be 36 but he recorded one influential classic after another during 1960-64 in addition to having historic collaborations with Charles Mingus and John Coltrane.
Jonathan Grasse’s recent book Jazz Revolutionary – The Life & Music Of Eric Dolphy (Jawbone Press, 312 pages) tells the entire story of the innovative musician. In this extremely well researched work, Grasse goes into great detail about every aspect of Dolphy’s life and career. Because he made very few recordings before joining the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1958 when he was already 30 (other than a few sessions with drummer Roy Porter during 1949-50), Dolphy’s early life has rarely been written about at length. Grasse digs into that largely uncharted period which found the altoist being influenced by Charlie Parker before breaking away into his own style, recording a few numbers in Charles Mingus’ big band in 1949 (although not getting any solos), doing studio work, and playing baritone in the movie Rock All Night with pianist Eddie Beal’s combo in 1957. He also worked in the accompanying band for the Platters and was on other commercial dates organized by his friend arranger-bandleader Gerald Wilson.
Dolphy’s career really got going during his period with Chico Hamilton and especially after he moved to New York. During 1960-64 he was on quite a few record dates and Jonathan Grasse talks about each one. He discusses Dolphy’s life in great detail (giving readers quite a bit of new information) and is frank about the quality of each of his solos. He also includes virtually every relevant mention of the musician that appeared in print including both positive and negative reviews; Downbeat was often not very kind to Eric Dolphy.
In a book of this nature, an occasional error is unavoidable but I found extremely few. Calling Eric Dolphy jazz’s first multi-instrumentalist is a mistake since Benny Carter and Ira Sullivan were among those who played both reed and brass instruments. When discussing the recording of “MDM” by Mingus with Dolphy, the author mistakenly leaves out most of the personnel including Charles McPherson who had a memorable tradeoff with Dolphy. But those are very minor errors.
Jazz Revolutionary is a very readable book and is a must for anyone interested in Eric Dolphy’s music and life. I cannot imagine it being improved upon in the future. It is highly recommended and available from www.amazon.com.
The Monterey Jazz Festival, which takes place Sept. 26-28 at the Monterey Fairgrounds, has a particularly remarkable lineup this year. On its five stages one can see Gregory Porter, Christian McBride, the Marcus Shelby Orchestra, John & Gerald Clayton, Grace Kelly, Caity Gyorky, Alfredo Rodriguez, Benny Green, Mr. Sipp, Dianne Reeves, Keyon Harrold, Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Davina & the Vagabonds, Gunhild Carling, Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, Carmen Lundy, Christian Sands, Camille Thurman, Sullivan Fortner, Rene Marie, Pete Escovedo, Chris Cain, Nnenna Freelon, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Dayramir Gonzalez and many others. Do not even hesitate for a moment; get your tickets as soon as possible!
Catalina Bar & Grill features singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli on Sept. 19-21, and Nnenna Freelon (Oct. 1). The Jazz Bakery presents the Alan Broadbent-Harvie S Duo (Sept. 7). Sam First has the Joe La Barbera Quintet (Sept. 5-6), John Beasley celebrating the Tony Williams Quintet (Sept. 17-18), and the Sarah Hanahan Quartet (Sept. 19). And the West Coast Jazz Hour Quintet (with Josh Nelson and Ron Stout) performs at the Sierra Madre Playhouse (Sept. 21).
Every jazz musician needs a well-written press biography, every CD (and even downloads) deserves informative liner notes (I have now written 995), and important events benefit from press releases. I write all of these and more at reasonable rates. Please contact me at 661-678-3542 or at scottyanowjazz@yahoo.com for further information about my services. My latest book, Jazz Through The Eyes Of A Jazz Journalist (My Jazz Memoirs) is available at www.amazon.com.
I have a new book that is available from amazon.com. Life Through The Eyes Of A Jazz Journalist. It is subtitled My Jazz Memoirs and is my 12th book and first in a few years. I discuss in an often-humorous fashion my early days and discovery of jazz, my period as the jazz editor of Record Review, the story behind my involvement with the All Music Guide, and I reminisce about some of my adventures as an amateur musician. Included are vintage interviews with Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, and Maynard Ferguson, encounters with Clint Eastwood, summaries of the Monterey and Playboy Jazz Festivals (including a full-length review of the 1985 Playboy Festival), memories of other events (such as the IAJE Conventions), and brief snapshots of many memorable club and concert performances. There is also background information about my other books, evaluations of the jazz critics who inspired me early on, and my thoughts on jazz criticism which includes advice to up-and-coming jazz journalists. Rounding out the book is a chapter on how the jazz writing business has changed over the past 50 years, and appendixes that include the jazz greats of the past, 86 jazz giants of today, 21 young performers to look for in the future, jazz books and DVDs that everyone should own, and a dozen enjoyable Hollywood jazz films.
Life Through The Eyes Of A Jazz Journalist, a paperback book, sells for $26 through Amazon.com Signed copies (which will take 2-3 weeks) are also available for $30 (which includes free postage) by sending the money via Pay Pal to scottyanowjazz@yahoo.com and by sending your mailing address to that E-mail.