Episódios
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Milt Jackson was one of the all-time jazz greats on the vibraphone. First, he was an innovator bringing this esoteric instrument to the bebop revolution of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Additionally, he possessed superb musicality that added to the popularity of the instrument. Beyond utilizing the percussion role of the vibes, Jackson played with fleet, free flowing lines suitable to modern jazz. He was a master of a soulful, piercing, driving sound. While at slower tempos, with notes elaborated and sustained for romantic effect, he would play ballads or the blues that communicated with the listener to the core.
Milt Jackson was born in Detroit on January 1, 1923. His father was an auto worker but also a musician who played several instruments. The family was raised in the gospel church where they all played music. Young Milt exhibited proficient musical talent at an early age, and he played several instruments, including piano, guitar and drums, and also sang. He attended Miller High School which had an excellent music department [in a de facto segregated African American school in Depression era America], and he played these, and other instruments, in their bands. When he was still a teenager, his father bought him a set of vibes. Jackson served in the Armed Forces during World War II, then upon discharge to civilian life in 1944 he began a career as a professional musician in earnest, focusing on the vibes.
Jackson drew the attention of Dizzy Gillespie and moved to New York in the fall of 1945 to join the trumpeter’s band. Significantly he joined Dizzy and Charlie Parker on their seminal tour of the West Coast in December 1945.
Nicknamed “Bags”, Jackson was ubiquitous during the founding years of bebop, playing not only with Diz, frequently, and Bird, but also most of the other young turks. Bags also had a notable and sympathetic association with Thelonious Monk and appears on many of his early recordings.
By the early 1950's Jackson was a star. He served in many small combos, performed frequently, and recorded numerous memorable and swinging recordings as a leader. Additionally, in small groups he teamed up with pianist John Lewis and bassist Percy Heath and drummers first Kenny Clarke, and then Connie Kay, to produce a refined chamber jazz sound in a quartet setting. This eventually became a formal group, the “Modern Jazz Quartet” (MJQ), which transcended musical barriers. With their touch of elegance, the MJQ became an international attraction which toured and performed regularly into the 1970's.
Thereafter, Bags renewed pursuit of an individual career, made notable records for CTI and Pablo Records, led his own touring groups often backed by the band of Mike LeDonne, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker, and reunion appearances with the MJQ.
Jackson died of cancer in October 1999 at the age of 76.
originally broadcast January 15, 2023
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WKCR presented a marathon special broadcast saluting Donald Byrd, in December 2024.
For my contribution, I prepared a set surveying Donald Byrd’s intersections with John Coltrane.
In the period 1956-1958, only shortly before each in their own way were to burst forth separately to a next level of stardom, Byrd and Coltrane appeared together (though not "in tandem") on several recording sessions. They made dates with Elmo Hope, Paul Chambers, Sonny Clark (the classic LP “Sonny’s Crib”), Art Blakey, and Prestige blowing encounters with Red Garland. All nice listening with wonderful extended solos and prime collaboration.
originally broadcast on December 10, 2024
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The best in jazz derives from its interpretations of the great American popular songbook, and Jimmy Van Heusen was one of its composer-giants. In 2013, the centennial of Van Heusen’s birth, we added this jazz flavored element to its commemoration.
Van Heusen was born in Syracuse, NY on January 26, 1913 as Edward Chester Babcock. He began a musical career in high school and worked as a radio disk jockey, taking the stage name Van Heusen from the shirt company. He moved to New York City in the thirties to start as a professional songwriter, his first major association coming at the Cotton Club, arranged by his friend Harold Arlen. His first big number was “Darn That Dream”, written for Benny Goodman, soon followed by the likes of “All This And Heaven Too”, “Shake Down The Stars” and many other hits.
By 1940, Van Heusen teamed with lyricist Johnny Burke and wrote for over 30 films for Paramount Pictures, and also for the Broadway stage. The Burke-Van Heusen partnership lasted well in to the 1950's and produced classics such as “Polka Dots And Moonbeams”, “Imagination”, “But Beautiful”, “It Could Happen To You”, “Here’s That Rainy Day”, and “Like Someone In Love”.
After Burke semi-retired, Van Heusen joined forces with Sammy Cahn and continued to write for the movies, with chestnuts like “All The Way”, “The Second Time Around”, “Come Fly With Me”, “Call Me Irresponsible”, and too many more to mention. He became an intimate of Frank Sinatra and was involved in much of Sinatra’s success in this period. Van Heusen died in 1990 at the age of 77.
This radio program presents jazz versions of Van Heusen’s songs featuring many instrumental improvisations, and also vocal versions from greats such as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Etta Jones.
originally broadcast February 24, 2013
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Sid Gribetz features Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers “From Moanin’ To Kyoto”.
Art Blakey is the dynamic drummer and band leader who nurtured many young jazz stars and inculcated the “hard bop” sound in the groups he organized over the many decades of his career until his death in 1990.
Even in a five hour program, we will have time to focus only on a limited aspect of Blakey’s prolific career. Thus, we’ve chosen to explore a period of golden flowering of the ensemble, starting with the arrival in 1958 of Benny Golson. Golson organized matters and brought fellow Philadelphians Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt into the fold; instilled their repertoire with his sophisticated compositions (and Timmons’s, too); and thereby took the Messengers to the “next level”.
In the fall of 1958, the group recorded its seminal Blue Note album “Moanin’” and then embarked on an extended European tour which put it on a broader map.
Golson would soon leave, eventually to be replaced in the tenor saxophone chair by Wayne Shorter. Shorter and Morgan, with their crackling and crisp virtuosity as soloists, and lyrical song writing and ensemble playing, set another high bar for the Jazz Messengers style.
Morgan would depart in 1961 to be replaced by Freddie Hubbard; trombonist Curtis Fuller would be added to make the group a sextet; and Cedar Walton would come on board to take the piano bench. All would contribute their original compositions to the band’s “book”, songs that are now part of the established modern jazz repertory. Additionally, the Jazz Messenger sound turned on their innovative arrangements and creative solos that infused popular standards with fresh, new meaning.
Blakey toured Japan to an ecstatic response in January 1961, and returned frequently thereafter. From these trips, he assimilated a Japanese flavor into songs such as Ugetsu, On The Ginza, and Kyoto adding to the scope of the presentation.
Thus, I’m entitling the show “From Moanin’ to Kyoto”, as the program will feature classic recordings of Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in this fertile period – late 1958 through 1964 (when “Kyoto”, the last of their Riverside albums, was made).
originally broadcast February 18, 2018
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During the 2019 Billie Holiday WKCR Birthday Broadcast, I put together a segment of an erstaz sampling of live performances, some famous, some obscure, including, among others, Count Basie, Stan Getz, A Yiddishe Momma, and The Sound Of Jazz TV broadcast. A nice listen....
88 minutes
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Born in Texas October 6, 1908, Sammy Price began his career as an entertainer on the black vaudeville TOBA circuit as a dancer and singer as well as pianist. He then became a fixture as a pianist in the Southwestern swing and blues jazz scene in Kansas City and its territories in the burgeoning years of jazz in the 1930s.Price moved to New York City in 1938, working for over a decade as the house pianist and musical arranger for Decca Records, appearing on countless classic blues and gospel recordings, ranging from Trixie Smith to Blue Lu Barker to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Sam also had a chance to present his own jazz groups, including greats such as Sidney Bechet and Lester Young. Additionally, Price brought his brand of boogie woogie and swing piano to the Café Society and similar venues. In the 1950's, Price worked with mainstream jazz groups and in rhythm and blues, and later had a regular partnership with trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen.In the heady 1960's, Price stepped back from his musical activities for a time, becoming a youth counselor and what we today would call a “community organizer”, a leading figure in the Harlem community with organizations such as HARYOU-ACT. With the 1970's revival for classic jazz, Price reinvigorated his music, christened as the “King Of Boogie Woogie”, and he performed regularly at New York clubs such as the Cookery, Crawdaddy, and the West End. He also frequently toured Europe, both as a rollicking solo pianist, or in small combos with old friends. Sammy Price died in 1992 at the age of 83.
originally broadcast October 2009
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In jazz history, Houston Person is one the great purveyors of the deep throated tenor saxophone sound --dynamically powerful and swinging, but also sultry, bluesy, sensitive and romantic. Houston Person was born on November 10, 1934 in Florence, South Carolina. He was musically inclined as a child, and then studied at South Carolina State University. After college, Person entered the service and was stationed in West Germany for several years in an Air Force unit that included Cedar Walton, Lex Humphries, and Eddie Harris, among other jazz musicians who became lifelong friends and influences.Upon discharge from the service, Person returned stateside for further studies in graduate school at the prestigious Hartt Institute in Connecticut. Person finally began making his way in the professional jazz world in the Boston/New England area. By the early 1960's he had established his mark and began recording for Prestige Records. Person’s style also fit into the soulful jazz of the period and graces many live bands and recordings in that groove.By the 1970's, Houston met up with the awe-inspiring vocalist Etta Jones, and after some occasional collaborations they started a steady working partnership that lasted until Etta’s death from cancer in 2001. Their musical and personal teamwork and connection was so intense that they were often mistaken as a married couple, and feted as a continued legacy of the Lester Young and Billie Holiday collaboration.Person has a masterful and encyclopedic command of the American popular songbook. He conveys the meanings of these songs, and also the blues, and jazz standards, in a straightforward manner that engages the audience with a direct emotional connection. This style marked his work with Etta, and even more so his continued regular performances with his own combos, or as a guest artist in demand with countless groups.
originally broadcast October 27, 2024
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Ike Quebec was a deep-toned, dynamic saxophonist, instrumental in both the swing styles and the modern jazz era. Born in Newark, NJ in 1918, Quebec began his artistic career in show business as a dancer, and then a pianist, but during the World War II years he came of age as a saxophonist. Quebec’s early roots were in the swing styles, both as a key member of Cab Calloway’s big band in the 1940's, and as a soloist in small group swing and blues combos. Notably, Ike participated in some seminal Blue Note recording sessions in the early years of the label. Additionally, his artistry was informed by his presence on the Harlem scene during the formative years of modern jazz. In the late 1950's Quebec emerged as an important figure in the jazz business, serving as a talent scout, A & R man, and confidant for Alfred Lion and the Blue Note company during its modern jazz heyday. Starting in 1959, Quebec also recorded for the label himself, presenting classic sessions in organ grooves, hard bop, and bossa nova settings, all characterized by a rich harmonic sophistication and a driving, full-throated, yet graceful saxophone style. Unfortunately, Quebec succumbed to the disease of lung cancer and died at the early age of 44 in 1963. originally broadcast in 2015
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WKCR presents an annual marathon 24 hour tribute to trumpet virtuoso Clifford Brown on October 30, his birthday anniversary.
Here is my segment from the 2024 edition. It begins with a half hour potpourri of Brown recordings. That's followed by a detailed survey of Clifford's first commercial jazz records in 1953, when he flowered on the scene in sessions with Lou Donaldson and Elmo Hope; J.J. Johnson; Tadd Dameron; and his first date as a leader for Blue Note in August. Finally, the survey includes material from the famous February 21, 1954 live recording at Birdland with Art Blakey.
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Buck Clayton was a leading trumpeter and arranger of the swing era.
Coming of age in the Southwestern Jazz Styles, Clayton moved to Los Angeles as a young man and made his name in the California Jazz circles. In 1934, he assembled a band that moved to Shanghai, China, and brought American Jazz to the Orient. Escaping Shanghai just before the Japanese invasion, Clayton returned to the US and landed in Kansas City, where he joined the nascent Count Basie orchestra. Clayton served as the lead trumpet soloist (and arranger) in the classic original Count Basie band, and also joined Billie Holiday for her great early recordings.
Drafted during World War II, Clayton did not serve overseas, but was stationed on army bases in New Jersey. From that perch, he participated in the NY 52nd Street scene and was a major part of the small group swing bands. In the 1950's and 1960's, he toured the US and France with Jazz At The Philharmonic and others, and made key recordings of "Mainstream Jazz".
Although physical lip troubles curtailed his trumpet playing, Buck continued his career as a composer and arranger, until his death on 1991.
This program was originally aired on May 22, 2011. It celebrated Buck's centennial that year, as he was born November 12, 1911 in Parsons, Kansas. -
WKCR presents annual marathon broadcasts to celebrate the October 10 birthday anniversary of Thelonious Monk.
Here's my segment form the 2024 edition. It begins with selections from Monk's appearances as a "sideman" on sessions with Clark Terry, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, and Sonny Rollins. Next is a lengthy survey of Monk's recordings for the Blue Note label from 1947-1952, his first record contract and an opportunity to proudly display the initial conceptions of his now legendary original compositions.
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WKCR presents a marathon broadcast celebrating Max Roach annually, on his birthday anniversary, January 10.
Here's my segment from the 2022 program. The major portion of this episode samples recordings from Debut Records, the independent label owned by Roach and Charles Mingus, and includes material ranging from some esoteric ensembles to the legendary Massey Hall Concert.
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George Wallington was one of the legendary pianists of the bebop era but never achieved great fame. With his early retirement from a musical career, he remains a more obscure figure in jazz history and lore. However, he was an especially swinging pianist and inventive composer who deserves continued attention.
Born Giacinto Figlia in Sicily in 1924 (some sources date his birth a little earlier) his family moved to New York when he was an infant, and his father was an opera singer who exposed him to classical music. But when George heard Lester Young and the Count Basie orchestra as a young teen, he was smitten with the expressive and emotional power of jazz. He started playing professionally in New York nightclubs as a youth, using the stage name Wallington (taken from a nickname) and befriended fellow teen musicians such as Max Roach.
Wallington was hired by Dizzy Gillespie to play (along with Roach and Oscar Pettiford) in his innovative early bebop band at the Onyx Club in late 1943 and 1944, a seminal event in jazz history. Thereafter, Wallington became a figure on the 52nd Street scene along with Bird, Diz, Miles Davis and all the audacious young jazz musicians of the time. His tunes “Lemon Drop” and “Godchild” became famous bebop anthems popularized in recordings by others.
After appearing as a sideman on several records by the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Kai Winding, and Al Cohn, by 1949 Wallington began recording as leader. These albums, especially piano trios playing both his cerebral original compositions and swinging treatments of the American popular song, accompanied by greats such as Roach, Charles Mingus and Curly Russell, remain stunning to listen to and serve as testaments of his musical stature.
Wallington was in the famous Lionel Hampton band of young turks that toured Europe in 1953. Later in the 1950's he led jazz combos on the New York scene, including working groups with Jackie McLean, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor, and notably a long running popular band that featured the horns of Donald Byrd and Phil Woods.
But it was at this point that he left music and started a successful air conditioning business with his brother (Figlia & Sons). Wallington returned to jazz for occasional brief appearances at concerts in the 1980's, and he passed away in 1993.
originally broadcast January 15, 2017
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Vocalist Lorez Alexandria was a great interpreter of jazz and American popular song. She sang with deeply felt presentation of the lyrics and a style of improvisational freedom and swing. While originally from the church and informed by that soul, she was not a “shouter” or gospel singer. Some records, like her hit version of “Baltimore Oriole”, employed exotic touches, and others had scat interludes. Like the best instrumental soloists, Lorez communicated with the listener and told her song’s story. Not overly famous during her lifetime, she is certainly not well-remembered today. But she deserves to be.Lorez Alexandria (a nickname for Delores Alexandria Turner) was born August 14, 1929 in Chicago, and raised in that city. She sang with family members in church groups and traveling a capella gospel choirs. It is said that her choir once performed for President Truman.As an adult she turned to a professional career in popular song and jazz, and in the 1950's Alexandria was a leading performer in Chicago nightclubs, often in the groups of pianist King Fleming. She also performed with Ramsey Lewis, John Young, and other leading Windy City jazz musicians. In the late 1950's and early 1960's she made seven albums for local independent labels King and Argo which stand up today as classics that should be known (and will be played in depth on our program).In 1962 Alexandria moved to Los Angeles and remained in that city the rest of her life. In 1964 she made two albums for Impulse with Wynton Kelly but mostly remained beneath the major radar.Over the years she recorded with small California labels, not so widely distributed, although one was nominated for a Grammy award. In the late 1980's she began a relationship with the more nationally known Muse Records which helped invigorate her reputation..However, in 1993 Alexandria suffered a stroke and gradually retired from the music business. She died of kidney disease in 2001.
originally broadcast January 12, 2020
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Benny Golson is one of the great eminences of jazz, best known as a composer of lyrical compositions that have become enduring staples of the modern jazz repertory. A key performer in some of the most important jazz groups of the late 1950's and early 1960's, Golson added an element of elegance and refinement to the hard bop sound. He imposed a steady sophistication and class to the ensemble presentation. Stablemates, Killer Joe, Whisper Not, I Remember Clifford, Along Came Betty, Blues March, Five Spot After Dark, and Are You Real are among the great songs that you’ll recognize during this broadcast and that typify his style. Born January 25, 1929, Golson was raised in Philadelphia and came of age with high school compatriots such as John Coltrane and Jimmy Heath. Initially inspired by Arnett Cobb, Golson began his professional career in the early 1950's in rhythm and blues bands, sharing these chores with many jazz friends such as Tadd Dameron, who influenced Benny’s arranging style. He also traveled with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. Golson’s major breakthrough came upon joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1958. As arranger and musical director he helped take Blakey’s combo design to the “next level”. Later, together with Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller he founded “The Jazztet”, which was an innovative and popular group that expanded the possibilities of the hard bop ensemble. During this period he also participated in many significant recordings as an instrumentalist and as an arranger in multi-faceted settings. By the late 1960's, Golson left the jazz scene and settled in California where he became a distinctive arranger and orchestrator of major television and movie scores. Returning to jazz during the neo-classic revival period of the 1980's, Golson continued to perform vigorously until his final years. Golson died on September 21, 2024 at the age of 95. Originally broadcast on June 5, 2016
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WKCR presents an annual marathon broadcast celebrating the Coleman Hawkins birthday on November 21.
From the 2023 affair, here's a 185 minute long segment. It begins with a brief sample of early 1960's recordings with Duke Ellington, and other mainstream sides. Then the final 149 minutes contains an intensive survey of his career in the period from 1939 through 1944, after his return from Europe. From Body And Soul through the Apollo early bebop date.
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In his brief life, Fats Navarro was a fleeting spectacle of brilliance as a leading trumpeter in the history and development of jazz during the bebop years.
Nicknamed “Fats” or “Fat Girl” (befitting all in one his avoirdupois, his high pitched voice, and most important his fat musical tone on the trumpet), Theodore Navarro was born on September 23, 1923 in Key West. He played music seriously since childhood, and left Florida after high school to embark on a career as a professional jazz musician in big bands, first gaining notice as a teenager in Andy Kirk’s Clouds Of Joy. Upon the enthusiastic recommendation of Dizzy Gillespie, Navarro was hired to replace Diz in the notorious Billy Eckstine bebop big band in 1945.
In the late 1940's Navarro became a leading exponent of the bebop revolution, adding idioms and dialect to the musical language created by Bird and Diz, and, as Dan Morgenstern has written, possessing a beautiful tone, brilliance of execution, solid musicianship, and great powers of invention.
Navarro’s brief life ended on July 7, 1950, at the age of 26, succumbing both to a lingering illness with tuberculosis and the ravages of his heroin addiction.
Our program will explore his entire musical career, including his seminal recordings with Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Coleman Hawkins and other greats.
broadcast July 2022
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Dinah Washington called herself "The Queen Of The Blues", and she was that, and then some, a larger than life character and a dynamic singer of great jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, and the American Popular Songbook.Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and reared in Chicago (as Ruth Jones), influenced by gospel music she began singing professionally as a youth. Lionel Hampton "discovered" her, and she featured in his band for a number of years under the stage name Dinah Washington, before striking out on her own. Dinah brought forth popular "crossover" hit records for Mercury, jazz classics with all the greats, and best selling numbers like "What A Difference A Day Made", whether with jazz combos, big bands, R&B groups, or string orchestras.Married seven times, to among others saxophonist Eddie Chamblee and gridiron great Night Train Lane, she lived a nervy, extravagant life style. On the one hand always informed by her gospel roots, Dinah was transcendent, and she translated her varied popular repertoire into the secular and sexual passion of the blues. Her delivery combined intense feeling with crystal-clear diction so that, as the music poured out, she still seemed in total control, one of the all time best at conveying the heartfelt meaning of song lyrics.A heavy drinker, and overusing prescription diet pills, Dinah died from an accidental overdose on December 14, 1963 at the age of 39. Leaving us even at that young age, she left behind a prolific legacy. We’ll present a representative retrospective look at her career on our program, timed to coincide with celebration of her centennial, as she was born August 29, 1924.
originally broadcast September 1, 2024
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WKCR presents annual marathon broadcasts to celebrate the October 10 birthday anniversary of Thelonious Monk.
From the 2023 edition, here's 205 minutes of a segment I presented. Begins with a potpourri of Monk's music, first some live performances, next piano music, featuring selections from, among other recordings, the French Vogue session, the Duke Ellington album, and the "The Unique Thelonious Monk". The final 123 minutes includes a survey of a less-famous aspect of Monk's career, his recordings for the Prestige label.
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Tadd Dameron was born in Cleveland in 1917 and came of age towards the end of the Swing Era. As the bebop revolution unfolded, Dameron was a key figure as a pianist in various bands, arranger for Dizzy Gillespie and others, and composer of classics such as “Hot House", "If You Could See Me Now", "Our Delight", "Good Bait" and "Lady Bird".
He’s been called the romanticist of the bebop era. Certainly his sophisticated musicianship and lyrical touch elevated the harmonic advances of bebop, and his emotive style informed the music of Fats Navarro, Wardell Gray, Clifford Brown and so many others.
Additionally, Dameron had the opportunity to present his music in his own medium-sized orchestras. His recording legacy also includes leading sessions with greats like John Coltrane, inter alia.
Unfortunately his career was interrupted by narcotics issues and related prison terms, and later cut short by various health problems. Dameron died of cancer in 1965.
originally broadcast in 2010
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