Sandy Brown Jazz
What's New
May 2024

Rhapsody In Blue

2024 is the 100th Anniversary of Gershwin's landmark work "for solo piano and jazz band". Commissioned by Paul Whiteman it was premiered as "An Experiment In Modern Music". Frederic D. Schwarz argued that the famous opening clarinet glissando has become as instantly recognizable to concert audiences as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Howard Lawes reflects on Rhapsody In Blue in an article further down this page (here). Rhapsody In Blue will be performed in many places around the world this year (dates here) including arrangements by Tommy Smith in Edinburgh and Glasgow by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra on 3rd and 4th May.

Ronnie's

At the end of April, the television channel BBC4 featured a re-showing of the 2020 documentary film Ronnie's : Ronnie Scott And His Famous Jazz Club. "Utilising rarely-seen archive footage and more recent interviews, the film explores the life of the tenor saxophonist, and examines how his venue evolved to become a destination for musicians including Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis". If you missed it, you can catch it on BBC4 at 12.50 am on Thursday 2nd May, or catch up with the film in BBC iPlayer here.

The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh, Closes

In April, Edinburgh's Jazz Bar announced that it is to close. A key Scottish venue for almost 20 years, the Jazz Bar had practical issues recently with a leak at the building but they say : "It has been particularly challenging for The Jazz Bar with a massive variety of issues and challenges to work through. Despite extremely hard work and very positive progress to overcome these issues, the cost of living crisis coupled with operational challenges proved too much." More details here. The Scotsman newspaper reports that another local bar, the Brewhemia, has offered to step in and host musicians 7 days a week - details here.

The Proms 2024

The annual Promenade Concerts at London's Albert Hall is labelled as 'The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival' but in recent years they have included other concerts from other genres, including jazz. One to look out for this year is Prom 35 on 15th August celebrating the music of Duke Ellington, Anthony Braxton and Mary Lou Williams with saxophonist Anthony Braxton himself playing. The concert is also broadcast live on BBC3. Full details of Prom 35 are here. The programme for all the Proms is here and general booking opens at 9.00 am on 18th May.

London Jazz News Changes Name

London Jazz News Editor / Publisher Sebastian Scotney has announced at jazzahead in Bremen that London Jazz News will become UK Jazz News: "Over the course of the summer, London Jazz News will become UK Jazz News. The first step has been taken: we unveiled our new name branding at the jazzahead! conference in Bremen, where the banner in the photo was officially unveiled by the CEO of jazzahead!, Sybille Kornitschky. With writers and other contributors based all over the UK, we feel this change is now overdue, as many readers have been telling us."

Video Juke Box

Click on the pictures to watch the videos..... or take pot luck and click on the picture of the Juke Box and see what comes up.

American guitarist (Dr) Molly Miller plays her composition The Weight. More details of her upcoming Trio recording, The Ballad Of Hotspur, should be available next month.

Mark Lockheart's Morning Smiles sets an impressive introduction to his latest album Smiling with the 12 piece ensemble in this inspiring video. {See Recent Releases]

1956 and a live video of Hey Hey from Big Bill Broonzy who influenced so many jazz and rock musicians.

Julian Costello And All The Birds Were Set Free.jpg

Georgia Mancio sings Why with Julian Costello's Quartet (Julian Costello, saxophone; John Turville, piano; Andy Hamill, double bass and Tom Hooper, drums) from their new album And All The Birds Were Set Free. [See Recent Releases]

Here is Nina Simone playing and singing I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free at Montreaux in 1976

This is the Chris Barber band in 1965 (with one or two deps) playing 'The Saints'. It shows the level of the band's energy and popularity nearly 60 years ago and the response of a German audience.

Saxophonist Melissa Aldana plays A Story from her new album Echoes Of The Inner Prophet [see Recent Releases]

Lens America

Dave Douglas

Journalist/guitarist Filipe Freitas and photographer Clara Pereira run JazzTrail in New York City. They feature album and concert coverage, press releases and press kits, album covers and biographies. They are valued contacts for Sandy Brown Jazz in the United States. You can read Filipe's reviews of album releases here and see Clara's gallery of pictures here.

Clara Pereira took this picture of trumpeter Dave Douglas last year at Fotografiska, a photography museum located in Gramercy Park in Manhattan during his launch of If There Are Mountains album with pianist Elan Mehler.

Dave now has a new album out - Gifts - "about the blessings of life and music that we share with each other. It’s about celebrating the gift of the music we love across generations." Listen to Take The A Train from the album here.

Born in New Jersey, Dave Douglas is an award winning American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator. His career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions. From 2002 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Centre. He is a co-founder of the Festival Of New Trumpet Music and since 2003 he has served as director of the nonprofit festival. He is on the faculty at the Mannes School of Music and is a guest coach for the Juilliard Jazz Composer's Ensemble. In 2005 Douglas founded Greenleaf Music, a record label for his albums, sheet music, podcasts, as well as the music of other modern jazz musicians. Greenleaf has produced over 70 albums.

You can read more about Dave Douglas here, and here is a video of his 'Gifts Trio' from last October:

The Story Is Told

So This Was Rag-Time Music

The following extracts are from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson (1912) and in King Of Ragtime - Scott Joplin and his Era by Edward A. Berlin (1994).

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is the fictional account of a young bi-racial man, referred to only as the "Ex-Colored Man", living in the post-Reconstruction era America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He lives through a variety of experiences, including witnessing a lynching that convince him to "pass" as white to secure his safety and advancement, but he feels as if he has given up his dream of "glorifying" the black race by composing ragtime music. James Weldon Johnson originally published the book anonymously in 1912, via a small Boston publisher. "He decided to publish it anonymously because he was uncertain how the potentially controversial book would affect his diplomatic career. He wrote openly about issues of race and discrimination that were not common then in literature. The book's initial public reception was poor. It was republished in 1927, with some minor changes of phraseology, by Alfred A. Knopf, an influential firm that published many Harlem Renaissance writers, and Johnson was credited as the author." (Read more here).

* * * *

We stopped in front of a house with three stories and a basement ... From the outside the house bore a rather gloomy aspect, the windows being absolutely dark, but within, it was a veritable house of mirth ... In the back room there was a piano, and tables were placed round the wall. The floor was bare and the centre was left vacant for singers, dancers, and others who entertained the patrons ...

There was a young fellow singing a song, accompanied on the piano by a short, thickset, dark man. After each verse he did some dance steps, which brought forth great applause and a shower of small coins at his feet. After the singer had responded to a rousing encore, the stout man at the piano began to run his fingers up and down the keyboard. This he did in a manner which indicated that he was a master of a good deal of technique. Then he began to play; and such playing! ... It was music of a kind I had never heard before. It was music that demanded a physical response, patting of the feet, drumming of the fingers, or nodding of the head in time with the beat.

The barbaric harmonies, the audacious resolutions, often consisting of an abrupt jump from one key to another, the intricate rhythms in which the accents fell in the most unexpected places, but in which the beat was never lost, produced a most curious effect ...

This was rag-time music, then a novelty in New York, and just growing to be a rage, which has not yet subsided.

Here is a scene from the 1977 movie Scott Joplin.

Anagram

MOST WARY THERE

(Harold Arlen and Ted Kohler standard first sung by Ethel Waters at The Cotton Club in 1933 )

Here is the answer

Time Out Ten
My Old Man
The Tom Green Septet

For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.

We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.

My Old Man is a song from Joni Mitchell's 1971 classic album Blue. It is thought that some of the songs on the album (My Old Man and River) were inspired by Joni's relationship with Graham Nash (The Hollies; Crosby, Stills and Nash); the relationship was already troubled when Joni left for Europe in 1970, and from there she sent Graham a telegram to let him know that their relationship was over. The lyrics to My Old Man do not reflect their troubles, but rather show a real affection. Here are some of the lyrics and you can listen to Joni's recording here.

My old man, he's a singer in the park
He's a walker in the rain
He's a dancer in the dark
We don't need no piece of paper from the city hall
Keeping us tied and true no, my old man
Keeping away my blues

But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide

It is a great tune and Tom Green's Septet does it justice in our video for this month's ten minutes time out. The tune is included on their album Tipping Point - do check it out, it has some excellent tracks. The Septet is: Tom Green (trombone); James Davison (trumpet, flugelhorn); Tommy Andrews (alto sax, soprano sax); Sam Miles (tenor sax); Sam James (piano); Misha Mullov-Abbado (double bass) and Scott Chapman (drums).

Did You Know?
Bad Penny Blues

Did you know that Humphrey Lyttelton's single Bad Penny Blues was the first British jazz record to get into the Top Twenty singles chart? Recorded in 1956 it featured Humph (trumpet); Johnny Parker (piano); Jim Bray (bass) and Stan Greig (drums). It is a catchy tune but much of the credit goes to producer Joe Meek who was an innovative sound engineer largely involved with pop songs. It was Joe's idea to bring Johnny Parker's piano riff to the front of the recording. Stan Greig played drums on this occasion - Stan was equally prolific on piano. The recording stayed in the charts for six weeks and reached No 19.

You will also recognise the riff in Paul McCartney's Lady Madonna recorded by The Beatles. On one website it is argued however that Lady Madonna did not infringe copyright: Todd Lowry writes: "..... Courts in music copyright infringement cases analyze melodies to determine substantial similarity. With respect to the melody line, 'substantial similarity' means nearly identical. Here there is a superficial similarity in style - both songs use a quasi boogie-woogie pattern in the left hand. But that's the extent of the similarity. The right hand melodies have no resemblance to each other at all .......'

Listen to Bad Penny Blues here.

Take Two
Mr Bojangles

I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you
In worn out shoes
With silver hair, a ragged shirt and baggy pants
The old soft shoe

He jumped so high
Jumped so high
Then he'd lightly touch down

Mr. Bojangles
Dance

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia in 1878. From dancing for pennies in the street at the age of five he became the most highly paid Black entertainer in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. His influence on dance was substantial. According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it on its toes, dancing upright and swinging," adding a "hitherto-unknown lightness and presence."

Luther and his brother Bill were raised by their grandmother, a former slave, after their parents died in 1884. "Robinson claimed that he was christened Luther, a name that he did not like. He suggested to his younger brother William that they should exchange names, and they eventually did." His brother subsequently adopted the name of Percy and achieved recognition as a musician under that name.

At twelve Bill ran away to Washington DC where he performed in various shows and at one point teamed up with a young Al Jolson who would sing while Bill danced. You can read Bill's fascinating story from vaudeville to film here. One of his memorable roles in film came with his doing his 'stair dance' in the movie The Little Colonel with child star Shirley Temple - you can watch it here.

The song Mr Bojangles was written by Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968. Over the years since it has become associated with Bill Robinson, but actually according to Walker, a street performer in the New Orleans first precinct jail who called himself Bo Jangles was the subject of the song. In the song, the street performer is a heavy drinker and has a dog that died; Walker also noted that the street-performer Bo Jangles was white. By Bill Robinson's own account and those of his friends, he neither smoked nor drank (although he was a frequent and avid gambler), and he never had a dog.

Perhaps the best know performance of the song is by Sammy Davis Jr. It was an ideal vehicle for demonstrating Sammy's many talents. Apparently Sammy credited Bill Robinson with influencing his career.

Don't buy sugar
You just have to touch my cup
You're my sugar
It's sweet when you stir it up

I met him in a cell in New Orleans, I was
Down and out
He looked to me to be the eyes of age
As he spoke right out

He talked of life
He laughed, slapped his leg instead

He said the name Bojangles and he danced a lick
Across the cell
.........

We danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs
Throughout the south
We spoke in tears of fifteen years
How his dog and him
They travelled about

His dog up and died

And so to the first of our two 'takes' on the song. This is a different vocal approach by Kareen Guiock-Thuram. Kareen, an actress and singer is based in France where she grew up before going to college in Guadeloupe and then back to Paris. The track is on Kereen's album Nina, her tribute to Nina Simone, available to download here

Our second 'take' is an instrumental version by Australian guitarists Tommy and Phil Emmanuel. (There is another YouTube video of them playing Mr Bojangles with harmonica player Pat Bergason but the sound favours the harmonica at the expense of the guitars). From a rock guitarist to a solo performer, Tommy Emmanuel's jazz credentials can be seen here in his duet on Honeysuckle Rose with guitarist Martin Taylor. You can read more about Tommy here. Tommy's brother Phil sadly died suddenly from an asthma attack in New South Wales in 2018.

They said I dance now at every chance and honky tonks
For drinks and tips
But most the time I spend behind these county bars
'Cause I drinks a bit

He shook his head and as he shook his head
I heard someone ask please

Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles
Dance

Odd One Out

Who is the 'odd one out'?

Frank Sinatra; Jo Stafford; Helen Ward; Connie Haynes

Click on the picture for the answer

Tea Break

A series where musicians and others stop by for an imaginary Tea Break to talk about their music and projects.

Frank Griffith

Saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and arranger Frank Griffith was born in Eugene, Oregon in 1959. Years before, his great grandfather had been a farmer in Wales, and like many others, had emigrated to farm in the New World. Frank’s father married an American girl who was a music major, a gifted pianist and vocalist and it was she who really brought music to the family.

In 1980, at twenty one, Frank left home and headed for New York City and started at the Manhattan School of Music. By the time he graduated in 1984, he had been exposed to some significant experiences in jazz playing with Ron Carter, Jon Hendricks and Jack McDuff. He was asked to join The Glenn Miller Orchestra on alto sax for a nationwide tour in 1984. "It was an amazing experience and I met some great people," says Frank, "But a long time travelling is not so good." He played with the orchestras of Toshiko Akiyoshi, Buddy Rich, Mel Lewis and Mel Tormé. "One of Mel’s saxophonists, Andy Fusco, fell ill, and I received this call asking if I would dep.", Frank recalls, "The thing about Mel Tormé was that he was not just a vocalist but a talented arranger and composer and a good drummer and vibes player. This made him aware of the whole thing and enabled him to sing with, be part of, the band, rather than just a singer."

In 1996, Frank, married and with a son, moved to London and joined the Peter Cater Band. Frank first put together his Nonet in 1999. Their appearance at the Ealing Jazz Festival in 2000 was recorded and released by Hepjazz, under the predictable title The Frank Griffith Nonet ‘Live’ at Ealing Jazz Festival 2000. He has played with numerous other bands as well as his Nonet and also taught at Brunel University in London. Frank subsequently moved to Liverpool where, amongst other activities, he hosts a regular jazz programme on radio.

I caught up with Frank for a Tea Break:

Hi Frank, How are you? There is a nice café on the corner over there that looks quiet enough to chat. What can I get you – coffee, tea ….?

Coffee will do me fine, Ian .... and thanks.

Do you fancy a cake or something? I’ve given up trying to moderate control over my waistline.

Yes, .. me too; I'm afraid that my "bay window" enters the room well before I do these days. "Older but wider" as they say .... I'll settle for a sugar free bun of some sort.

Good idea, that sounds like a reasonable compromise! I'll see what they have. I hadn’t realised how much time has passed since we last met up in London. How are things going here in Liverpool? It must be quite different to back in that time?

Yes, Liverpool is working out quite well, actually. I moved here in 2018 and there's lots going on. I formed a weekly jazz workshop five years ago along with a few others to play several gigs per month. A fair bit of arranging too - mostly for forces outside of Liverpool. One of whch is trumpeter Chris Hodgkins' quartet. He picks great tunes from the 1940/50s with references to a particular artist (Nat Cole, Satchmo, Clark Terry, Al Cohn, et al) and I fashion them for his lineup of trumpet, alto sax, guitar and bass. A nifty ensemble to write for. Also, one of the key differences of the North West compared to London is that Liverpool and Manchester are 40 miles apart yet close enough to work on both scenes. Two different venues geographically yet constantly interchanging with each other.

Tell me about the radio programme? When is it and how can people listen? Do you have a particular approach?

My radio show, THE JAZZ CAVERN, has been going for 3 years now. 155 shows to date! It airs weekly on www.purejazzradio.com, an online station. I also have a live version of it on Liverpool Community Radio (www.l-c-r.co.uk) which is monthly but is repeated several times a week. I have a bespoke guest to talk about matters jazz and live music in the North West - not just players and singers but venue gaffers and people associated with other art forms that include jazz in some way. My general approach is to have a New Releases programmes every 4/5 weeks along with compilation programmes of Jazz Greats as well as tributes to recently deceased artists. Sadly, becoming more frequent as time goes by.

Do you have regular listeners who get in touch with the programme? I take it you haven’t had phone calls from a woman asking you to “Play Misty For Me” as in the Clint Eastwood movie?

I don't have callers (which is good - especially if it was the character played by Jessica Walter In Play Misty For Me which was Clint's 1970 debut film, by the way) - but I get a handful of emails from listeners. Lots of whom are USA based as Pure Jazz Radio is located in New York City. I often advise listeners that if I play anything too outrageous they can report me to the Jazz Radio Police - their website being - www.jrp.com. Haha- Actually, no such website exists ..... yet!

I hadn't realised that Pure Jazz Radio is based in America, but the Jazz Radio Police could be quite useful to keep an eye on those with a record who have been recently released. Talking of movies, and leaving aside his personal life issues, you and I often talk about Woody Allen’s films. Of the recent ones, I remember you liked Blue Jasmine while I preferred Midnight In Paris. He always seems to include jazz in his film scores – he of course plays clarinet – but I have never asked you what you think of his clarinet playing?

Woody's clarinet playing was summed up once by either George Coleman or Kenny Davern (or both) as "the only time that Woody made me laugh was when he picked up the clarinet". Woody's clarinet hero was New Orleans trad stylist George Lewis, who had a rather thin and squeaky tone quality (sorry George) which Woody aimed to emulate .... with great success, I might add. Aside from that the music in Woody's films heyday from 1975-1995 was a wondrous mix of classic American standards and jazz artists. One of the great hallmarks of his films.

I don't know whether you have seen the video, Frank, I think from around 2006, where Woody is interviewed and then plays with a band? It sort of sums up the man and his music and what you are saying.

Looking back you have had some amazing vocalists singing with your band – Trudy Kerr, Georgia Mancio and of course Tina May who sadly passed away in 2022. What was Tina like – I never met her?

Tina was a fantastic singer to collaborate with. Not only for her ability as a vocalist and intepreter of lyrics but her openess to doing vocalese (no lyrics) with the horns. She did some scatting but didn't insist on doing it on every song, as some singers do. While she could read, play piano and clarinet she had the most amazing ability to memorise lines immediately which I utilised - intergrating her voice with the ensemble. She was also very flexible with settling on keys for songs. While largely having a soprano range she could find those low notes in her boots when necessary. While she recorded around 25 CDs, all of them were with small groups excepting the three that we did. Tina had a voice that could hold her own with a larger group unlike many singers. We also wrote two songs together - (my music, her words) that haven't been played since her untimely passing in March 2022 but perhaps we'll rectify this at some stage. We made 3 CDs together- all released on the hepjazz label. One big band and two with a nonet.

I hope you do get to play those two songs.. People can hear Tina singing with your big band on Oh, You Crazy Moon on number 20 in your website's 'tracks' selection here.

Working with Trudy and Georgia was fruitful and magical too; both of whom I wrote several nonet arrangments for. Georgia, as many will know, is a wonderful lyricist (See her work with Alan Broadbent) and wrote a great lyric to my tune "May Cafe". Trudy was the first singer in my nonet (in 2002) and sings to great effect on our 2003 CD "The Coventry Suite". Her treatments of Cole Porter's "So In Love" , Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" and Ellington's "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" are unique and distinctive.

I'm a big fan of Georgia and her work with Alan is great. As for Trudy, I agree, I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart is excellent.

Continued here

Two Ears Three Eyes

Georgia Mancio

Mancio Georgia 90298 St. Andrew's Ch. Hove 5.4.24.[11139].jpg

Photographer Brian O'Connor from imagesofjazz.com took this picture of popular vocalist Georgia Mancio in April during a gig with her Quartet (John Donaldson, keyboard; Chris Coull, trumpet; Paul Whitten, bass, and Dave Ohm, drums) at St Andrew's Church In Hove, Sussex.

Brian says: "A selection of standards, mixed with a few Jobims', add originals, overlay the wonderful vocals of Geogia (not forgetting the whistling), backed by some of the UK's finest and you have the perfect mix for a couple of hours of jazz.."

As well as her recordings with Alan Broadbent, Georgia is busy in many settings. She appears in two numbers on Julian Costello's new album All The Birds Were Set Free (appearing at London's 606 Club on 23rd May). Details of Georgia's other UK gigs in May are here.

Here is Georgia with pianist Kate Williams playing We'll Be Together Again in 2020. Written by Carl T. Fischer in 1945, did you know that the lyrics were written by singer Frankie Laine? Carl Fischer was Frankie Laine's pianist and musical director when he composed the tune, and Laine was asked to write the lyrics for it.

Tracks Unwrapped
Exploring the stories behind the music
In Walked Bud

Dizzie, he was screaming
Next to O.P. who was beaming

Monk was thumping

Suddenly in walked Bud and then they got into somethin'

Thelonious Monk first recorded In Walked Bud in 1947. It was dedicated to his friend and fellow pianist Bud Powell. Bud was born and raised in Harlem and close as he was to Monk, Bud's primary influence was Art Tatum. Bud was born on September 27, 1924 ; Monk was his senior by seven years (born October 1917).

Listen to In Walked Bud from Thelonious Monk's 1958 Misterioso album with Thelonious Monk (piano), Ahmed Abdul-Malik (bass), Johnny Griffin (tenor saxophone) and Roy Haynes (drums). When this recording was made, Bud had just another eight years to live.

Bud's father was a pianist and it is not surprising that Bud was taking classical piano lessons by the age of five. By ten, he was showing an interest in Swing and it is said that the first number he got to grips with was James P. Johnson's Carolina Shout. Bud's older brother played trumpet, and by the age of fifteen, Bud was playing in his brother's band. He heard Art Tatum and began to listen to the pianist in local venues whenever he could. One of the places he frequented was Uptown House and there he heard the beginnings of bebop and met Thelonious Monk. Bud was actually underage for Uptown House, but this didn't seem to stop him being there. Monk took Bud under his wing and introduced him to the musicians at Minton's Playhouse. They became good friends and Bud would develop Monk's ideas on piano.

Bud Powell played piano on some of Cootie Williams's Swing Orchestra recording dates in 1944, the last of which included the first-ever recording of Monk's 'Round Midnight. His period with Cootie ended after an incident in January 1945 when Bud was separated from the band following a gig in Philadelphia. Apparently, Dexter Gordon told the story that Bud was found wandering around Broad Street station drunk; he was arrested by the railroad police, beaten and handed over to the city police who locked him up. Ten days later, with continuing headaches, he was admitted to Bellevue hospital and then to a state Psychiatric hospital sixty miles away where he stayed for two and a half months.

Other biographies claimed that In Walked Bud was written by Monk as a 'thank you' to Bud following a raid on the Savoy Ballroom in 1945. According to Monk's biographer, Thomas Fitterling, the police raided the venue and singled out Monk, who refused to show his identification and was arrested with force. Bud tried to prevent the police from the door and yelled, "Stop, you don't know what you're doing. You're mistreating the greatest pianist in the world." According to this account, Bud was struck on the head by a police officer with a nightstick, and it was this injury that led to his future hospitalisations and behaviour. Other accounts vary yet again. Apparently Miles Davis said Powell was beaten by a Savoy Ballroom bouncer after walking in the club without any money. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between, or has elements of all of these accounts.

Bud went back to Manhattan after his release from hospital and was soon in demand on the club scene making a number of recordings during 1945 and 1946 with people like Dexter Gordon, J.J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt and Fats Navarro. He was an excellent sight-reader, could play fast, and reflected the influence of musicians like Charlie Parker. In 1946 he recorded the jazz standard Bouncing With Bud (originally called Bebop In Pastel). In May 1947, Charlie Parker enlisted Bud to his Quintet with Miles Davis, Tommy Potter and Max Roach. You can hear him, particularly, on the third take of Bird's recording of Donna Lee:

Listen to Bouncing With Bud from 1949 with Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Fats Navarro (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums).

But by 1947, Bud was generally playing less. This was not helped by an incident that again led to him being hospitalised. It seems that in November, he had a dispute with another customer at a bar in Harlem. A fight ensued and Bud was hit over the eye with a bottle. He was taken, incoherent and argumentative, to Harlem Hospital and then back to Bellevue. They had records of his previous admission and sent him to Creedmoor State Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Queens. He was there for almost a year. On one occasion, he was apparently visited by his girlfriend who told him she was pregnant with their child. A period of electroconvulsive therapy followed over the next three months, possibly because of an outburst by Bud after hearing this news. He was discharged in October 1948, but he was emotionally unstable for the rest of his career. Drinking had a profound effect on his character, making him aggressive or depressed. He was back in hospital for a brief time in early 1949 but despite all this, he continued to play.

Some say that he made his best recordings between 1949 and 1953. However, he was back in psychiatric hospital from late 1951 to early 1953 after being arrested for possession of cannabis. He was prescribed Largactil (for the treatment of schizophrenia) and this would gradually affect his playing. He was discharged into the responsibility of Oscar Goodstein, owner of the Birdland nightclub.

Continued here

Rhapsody In Blue At 100
By Howard Lawes

George Gershwin's composition, Rhapsody in Blue, one of the most recognisable pieces of music of any genre is 100 this year. It was commissioned by the band leader Paul Whiteman and its premiere was at the Aeolian Hall in Manhattan on 12 February 1924 played by the Paul Whiteman Palais Royale Orchestra. The reaction from the audience was very enthusiastic and the recording, made in June 1924, went on to sell a million copies. Rhapsody in Blue was one of several pieces played on the same evening as Paul Whiteman attempted to enlighten his audience about the latest trends in music. Even the avant-garde classical composer from Paris, Igor Stravinsky and British-born conductor Leopold Stokowski, among other musical luminaries were present, emphasising both Whiteman's and Gershwin's desire for recognition of themselves and of American music by leaders in the field of both classical and popular music genres.

George Gershwin was the son of Jewish, immigrant parents who moved to America to escape persecution in Russia. He was born in 1898 and from the age of eleven it was obvious that he had immense talent as a pianist, monopolising the piano that his parents had bought for George's older brother Ira to play. For whatever reason Gershwin eschewed a formal music education and at the age of fifteen started work as a pianist. Before early record players arrived, music for domestic consumption was provided on sheet music and even as records became available sheet music was used to sell records. Gershwin got a job playing the latest sheet music so the music-buying public could hear what it sounded like. Although light classical and dance music were popular, Gershwin came to be influenced by ragtime and early jazz and he incorporated these influences in his first successful composition, Swanee. The lyrics by Irving Caesar owe their inspiration to the plantation songs of Stephen Foster, and the homesickness of those who took part in the great migration of African Americans from the southern states to the north. It was sung by the very popular singer Al Jolson, and in the manner of minstrelsy, he controversially sometimes performed the song in blackface although, in his defence, Jolson was also a supporter of black musicians and singers. The song was one of the most popular of the 1920s, selling four million records and one million copies of sheet music. Its popularity was such that George Gershwin was able to concentrate on other projects without having to worry too much about financial viability. We can listen to Al Jolson singing the song here.

In 1922, George Gershwin collaborated with the songwriter Buddy DeSylva to compose the one-act "jazz opera" Blue Monday which was also known as Opera a la Afro-Americane and later as 135th Street. The characters in the piece are Afro-American but the original cast was white with black faces, a rather offensive state of affairs that had started to change with the success of shows with black casts such as Shuffle Along (1921) heralding the Harlem Renaissance. In Gershwin's 1935 opera, Porgy and Bess black performers were cast in all the major roles. Blue Monday is considered as Gershwin's first attempt at symphonic jazz, fusing classical, ragtime and jazz music although operatic parody had long been part of the American vaudeville tradition. Elsewhere, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring composed in 1913, incorporated jazz-like structures that were labelled 'modernist' at the time, while Erik Satie's composition Parade, for Ballet Russe, with Picasso designing the costumes, incorporates elements of jazz rhythm. Jazz music became popular in Paris at the end of the first World War when James Reece Europe's Harlem Hellfighters Band entertained the crowds as victory was celebrated and took the city by storm as African American jazz musicians realised how different life could be in a more liberal society.

George Gershwin and his lyricist brother Ira cooperated on some successful Broadway shows in the early 1920s, impressing the popular band leader Paul Whiteman who commissioned George to write a piece for his concert which was to be called "An Experiment in Modern Music". Famously, Gershwin either forgot about the commission or declined and left himself very little time in which to compose it after Whiteman emphasised the importance of his concert. Gershwin related to biographer Issac Goldberg that he was inspired by the sounds of a train journey, "I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness". While many critics would not describe Rhapsody in Blue as 'true jazz' it does include various hallmarks of jazz composition including blue notes, syncopation and rhythms derived from observation of life, and at the time jazz was a widely misused word, as exemplified by Whiteman describing himself as the "King of Jazz". The piece was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé and to enable it to fit on a record had to be played at slightly faster tempo than Gershwin intended. Ferde Grofé's contributions as orchestrator and subsequently as arranger for later versions of the piece were very significant and played a considerable part in its popularity.

The first 1924 recording of Rhapsody in Blue was acoustic on Victor records (here). George Gershwin also recorded a piano roll and then in 1927 an electrically recorded version was produced. Gershwin, as pianist, took part in a performance in London in 1925 by the Savoy Orpheans which was broadcast by the BBC. Since then there have been thousands of performances and recordings.

Whiteman himself used the piece as his signature tune and Whiteman is one of the stars of the 1945 Warner Brothers biographical film, Rhapsody in Blue - The Story of George Gershwin and a clip is available here. There have been some particularly notable recordings by Leonard Bernstein (1959) with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (here), Andre Previn (1971) with the London Symphony Orchestra (here), and George Gershwin (1925 piano roll) accompanied by Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Columbia Jazz Band, New York Philharmonic (1976).

Perhaps some of the more interesting performances are by Duke Ellington in 1925, 1932 and a recording on his 1963 album, Will Big Bands Ever Come Back (here) which informs both the growth of Ellington's own development of symphonic jazz and his qualified admiration for Gershwin. Perhaps one of the outstanding renditions of Rhapsody in Blue was at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games opening ceremony when it was performed by 84 pianists.

While George Gershwin is barely mentioned in serious jazz literature, he had a huge impact on the "modern music" of the 1920s and Jazz Age America. He was a very successful composer of popular music but aspired to be equally successful in the classical world. He was admired by classical composers such as Ravel and when Ravel visited New York in 1928, they spent a lot of time together visiting the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem and listening to Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club. Gershwin is accused of composing 'fake jazz' and appropriating African American music but as David Schiff notes in his book Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, "In music appropriation is sometimes the sincerest form of admiration".

The Jazz Quiz

Who Is It? Who?

In the quiz this month we challenge you to work out the person's name in the title of each of the fifteen songs from which we give you some lyrics. How many can you work out?

The May Jazz Quiz is

HERE

Jazz Remembered
Annette Hanshaw

The name and music of Annette Hanshaw is perhaps not heard or remembered today, and yet it seems that there was something about this vocalist from the 1920s and early 1930s that made an impression on many. The fact that she was called 'The Personality Girl' gives us a clue. An album Annette Hanshaw The Jazz Age Queen sets the scene with Annette taking the popular syncopated songs of the period and mastering the timing - listen to I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling in1929 (here) finishing with her usual 'sign off' of 'That's all!'

Alan Bond told us: "I have a soft spot for Annette Hanshaw and virtually all her known recordings are available via Spotify. I was utterly jealous of Trevor Benwell (of Vintage Jazz Mart) as he got to meet her when he was in the US many years ago (in the 1940s, I think, as Trevor was over there as part of his RAF service) and he had a signed photo of her in among the raft of photo's he had in his front room at Dollis Hill. I did ask him if I could have it when he popped off but it never materialised and Trevor has been gone for a good few years now.

Referring to I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling, someone on YouTube writes: "Life has so many magic, wonderful moments, and we often fail to see or feel them when they are screaming and jumping up and down right in front of us. Sometimes, when I am low, I remember this, and wonder if we could withstand the joy if we took every minute particle in every second. Probably not. HA!!! There is a little of that embedded and overt joy in this song, and I have listened to it ten times in two days. I think I am falling for Annette. That little "That's all" gets me every time."

Notes accompanying a compilation album on the Retrospective label point out 'Not least of the attractions of Annette Hanshaw's work is the galaxy of top jazzmen who backed her. Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Manny Klein, Eddie Lang, Miff Mole, Red Nichols, Adrian Rollini, Muggsy Spanier, Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti the cream of 'white' jazz are just some of jazz greats to be heard.'

Here she is singing Nothin' with the Original Memphis Five on 14th April 1927. The person who has posted this recording on YouTube says: "Annette Hanshaw recorded on that day three sides with the Original Memphis Five, that had some great names in it, like Red Nichols on trumpet, Miff Mole on trombone, George Bohn on reeds, Frank Signorelli on piano and Ray Beauduc on drums. They recorded on this memorable day four sides: Play It, Red - Wistful And Blue - What Do I Care What Somebody Said? and Nothin' . The first tune was an instrumental recording without Annette Hanshaw.

Annette Hanshaw was originally thought to have been born in New York in 1910, beginning her recording career shortly before her 16th birthday. However, it has come to light that she was in fact born nine years earlier in 1901, making her 25 at the time of her first commercial recording in September 1926. In a 1934 poll held by Radio Stars, she received the title of best "female popular singer," alongside Bing Crosby as best "male popular singer." (Ruth Etting came third). King Edward VIII, then the Prince of Wales, was a fan and apparently loved dancing to her music.

There seem to be few live videos of Annette but this one appears on YouTube. It changes from time to time as it is taken down and then put back again, so please let us know if it doesn't work when you look at it:

Annette made one appearance in the 1933 Paramount short Captain Henry's Radio Show, "a picturization" of the popular Thursday evening radio programme Maxwell House Show Boat, in which she starred from 1932 to 1934. We can watch Annette in Captain Henry's Radio Show here (with Annette at 7.06 minutes in and some 'blackface' performances now finally consigned to social history).

She retired in the late 1930s and later said: "As a matter of fact, I disliked all of [my records] intensely. I was most unhappy when they were released. I just often cried because I thought they were so poor, mostly because of my work, but a great deal, I suppose, because of the recording ....... I disliked the business intensely. I loathed it, and I'm ashamed to say I just did it for the money. I loved singing, you know, jamming with the musicians when it isn't important to do, but somehow or another I was terribly nervous when I sang ........ You just have to be such a ham and love performing, and I happen to be an introvert, and I just wasn't happy singing, and I wasn't happy with my work as I said.' (Radio interview with Jack Cullen, 1978).

Here is Annette singing Am I Blue as 'Gay Ellis' with the New Englanders (Possibly: Charlie Spivak, (trumpet, trombone) Jimmy Dorsey (clarinet, alto sax); Hymie Wolfson (clarinet, tenor sax); Ben Selvin (violin); Arthur Schutt (piano); Tony Colucci (guitar); Hank Stern brass bass); Stan King (drums) in New York, May 31, 1929 with video footage of New York from 1929, and accompanied by further details of her life by the person posting the video; and here singing Get Out Under The Moon in 1928.

Later in her life Annette considered making a comeback and produced two unreleased demo recordings but she died of cancer in 1985 at New York Hospital, aged 83, after a long illness.

Ron Geesin is researching more information about Annette and writes: "Ever since I became friends with Brian Rust, starting in 1961 when I joined the Original Downtown Syncopators, I’ve been a Hanshaw fan. When the Syncopators went on a brief tour of NY State in 1962, we had a few days off in New York. At 18, there were two things I wanted to do: one was to walk the length of Harlem Main Street (in a tweed jacket no less); the other was to attempt to meet Annette Hanshaw. In my hotel bedroom, I looked her up in the phone book and there she was. I phoned her, having had the introduction from Brian Rust, and arranged to meet in a little café/bar - no idea where. I can’t remember anything of the conversation, except that towards the end she said, “I’m meeting a man here soon. If he comes in while you’re still here, don’t you dare let on that I was singing all that long time ago!”. Anyway, I’ve been attempting assembly of the complete Hanshaw recordings, including those uncredited with Frank Ferera’s Hawaiians, and may have found a new one. All this is towards a possible proper, and long overdue, biography of the dear lady (having now written 4 books myself). If any of your readers can help, what I would enjoy are connections towards: 1. Chris Ellis’s papers on Hanshaw (no idea where they went); 2. Best sources of the many photographs; 3. Other US contacts who may be sitting on further information. [Please contact Ron here if you can help. Brian Rust's recorded interview with Annette is here - Ed]

I Could Use £19,760
by Matt Fripp of Jazzfuel

Matt Fripp set up his own music agency and website, Jazzfuel, in 2016, since when he has established a client base across many countries. Although born in the UK, Matt is currently based with his family in Paris, France, but the international aspects of his work make little difference to his location. What is different about Matt and Jazzfuel is the information that he shares publicly on his website. Matt has kindly agreed to share some of his thoughts as an agent with us from time to time:

I'm useless at saving money.

I know that 'putting a little aside each month' makes sense, but it's so easy to put it off because it grows so slowly. Except I just realised this morning that if I'd saved £20/week since I was 18 I'd have £19,760 in an account now. (I don't)

Do you take a similar attitude to growing a mailing list? You're not alone, and it makes sense .... Pulling in a handful of new email addresses each month doesn't seem as sexy as getting 1,000 views on your latest Instagram story does it? But the results of doing it long-term would have an effect much similar to the saving analogy. If you're a geek like me, I've done some simple maths below.

Some Jazzfuel members are already up and running, including one who said this: "People reply, telling their own stories. I can ask them help, or look for a promoter, get emotional support and sell my album. People also come to concerts. I’m really happy to have this possibility to connect so closely to my fans."

There's a big misconception that you need to have thousands of people on your mailing list. The person who shared the comment above has around 800. It might not sound sexy compared to people with thousands and thousands, but imagine 800 people sat in a room waiting to hear your news...

"Building a mailing list" often gets put on the 'later' pile (like my savings).... In reality, it probably has much more potential to help you sell records and gig tickets than social media...

So, you stayed for the maths?!

That's almost $1,500 of extra 'free' income in 12 months. Not counting any other vinyl, merch, offers, or secondary benefits like gig re-bookings you might gain as a result... or the fact that your list will keep growing! Simply from setting up a mailing list and spending a little time sharing stories with your audience? I don't know about you, but I would (and do!) ditch some social media scrolling for that... So whether you set some time aside to, I personally would recommend it as one of the No1 non-playing activities you could spend your time on!

All the best.

Matt

Forum

Sandy Brown Remembered

Ron Geesin writes: "Here’s a wee story: When I had left the Original Downtown Syncopators (extremely vintage jazz) in 1965 and was flailing about to find a way forward, the first obvious move was to do intervals, solo with piano and banjo, at the jazz clubs that had known that band. One club that accepted my crazy dadaistic uproars was Osterley. Since I didn’t drive at that time, I would usually get the tube back to my basement flat in Notting Hill, but on one occasion Sandy Brown gave me a lift back in his little van. As you will know, he was usually well lubricated - and long before any drink driving laws. We were coming into Hammersmith, dropping down off the flyover. At the foot of the slip road was a set of traffic lights. They were RED, but Sandy was going at full pelt. I shouted, “RED LIGHTS!” and he screeched, slid and weaved to a halt flanked on at least one side by traffic. We stopped right on the line! Another time at Osterley, I had just come off battling and bantering with the audience when Bud Freeman, who was over here touring with Alex Welsh, quietly advised me, “You’ll make it, boy.” Ah, what fun I’ve had to get to 80!

Annette Hanshaw

Alan Bond has responded to Ron Geesin who has also asked if we can help with more information about Annette Hanshaw (see article above). Alan says: "How fortunate of Ron to have met Annette Hanshaw. Both Brian (Rust) and Trevor (Benwell) spoke of her with great affection and they both remarked on how modest she was about her achievements. Like Ron, I have all her recordings on a set of CDs, including those with the Hawaiian band, which are not, of course in Rust. I also have the recorded interview with Brian (here). I think any comparison with Helen Kane is rather unfortunate as I feel much more comfortable with Annette's cheeky style. Trevor was fortunate enough to meet her when he was over in the US in in 1942 with the R.A.F. Liaison team, by which time she had ceased recording. I can't really shed much light on her recordings other that to say I have everything that is listed in 'Rust' plus the later Hawaiian themed stuff. Almost all of it is on Spotify from where it is easily downloaded. There is a lot of the Rust Information included in Tom Lord's 'TJD online', a very useful source of information

Departure Lounge

Information has arrived about the following musicians or people connected to jazz who have passed through the 'Departure Lounge' since our last update.

When this page first started, links to newspaper obituaries were free. Then increasingly advertisements were added and now many newspapers ask for a subscription to read a full obituary. Where possible, we initially link to a Wikipedia page which is still free of charge, but we also give links to newspaper obituaries in case you want to read them.

Casey Benjamin

American saxophonist born in New York City in 1978 who played with bands from varying genre. He was a member of the Robert Glasper Experiment and worked at the intersection of jazz with other music with a number of musicians imcluding Roy Hargrove, Betty Carter, John Legend and others. Casey passed through the Departure Lounge on 30th March 2024. Obituaries: Wikipedia : New York Times : Video of Casey Benjamin talking about his playing with the Robert Glasper Experiment here.

Albert Heath

American drummer born in Philadelphia in 1935. 'Tootie' Heath was the brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and double bassist Percy Heath. Albert first recorded in 1957 with John Coltrane, but also worked with many other notable musicians including J J Johnson, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and others. He passed through the Departure Lounge on 3rd April 2024. Obituaries: Wikipedia : New York Times : The Guardian : Albert Tootie Heath joined Dexter Gordon in 1967 in this video of The Blues Up And Down.

Michael Cuscuna

Born in Connecticut in 1948, Michael Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and flute when he was young but went on to become possibly the most prolific record producer and discographer for Blue Note Records. He co-founded Mosaic Records in 1963 won three Grammy Awards for his releases. From 1984 onwards, he handled all reissues for Blue Note records. Obituaries : Wikipedia : New York Times.

Recent Releases

A few words about recent releases / reviews:

Apart from where they are included in articles on this website, I don't have a 'Reviews' section for a number of reasons:

I receive so many requests to review recordings it is impossible to include them all.
Unlike some publications/blogs, Sandy Brown Jazz is not a funded website and it is not possible to pay reviewers.
Reviews tend to be personal opinions, something a reviewer likes might not suit you, or vice versa.
It is difficult to capture music in words, so much better to be able to listen and see whether the music interests you.

For these reasons in particular I just include a selection of recent recordings below where I share the notes issued by the musician(s) as an introduction and links to samples so you can 'taste' the music for yourselves. For those who like to read reviews, these, of course, can be checked out on other sites.

Sandy Brown Jazz What's New May 2024