Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991, at the age of 65 from the combined effects of a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.
Davis helped found several of the major genres of modern jazz, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion. His groups included many musicians who went on to greatness, including John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, and Jack DeJohnette. His album, Kind of Blue, is generally regarded as the best selling jazz album of all times and one of the most influential albums in jazz.
Davis's second quintet can be heard on the 1965 recording of "E.S.P.," which features a long, six-chorus solo by Davis, beginning at 1:23.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends seven albums by Miles Davis, more than any other artist. These include:
'Round About Midnight (Purchase the CD at Barnes & Noble.)
Jazz pianist Bud Powell (1924-1966) was born on September 27 in New York City. Powell was one of the great bebop musicians and is often known as "the Charlie Parker of the piano."
The great jazz pianist Bill Evans said of Powell, "If I had to choose one single musician for his artistic integrity, for the incomparable originality of his creation and the grandeur of his work, it would be Bud Powell. He was in a class by himself."
Powell's technique — the sharp, jabbing chords of the left hand and the rapid improvisations of the right hand — can be heard in "Tempus Fugit":
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 1, which is available on CD from Barnes & Noble.
Jazz singer Betty Carter died on September 26, 1998, of pancreatic cancer at the age of 69. Carter was cremated, and the location of her ashes is unknown.
Fellow vocalist Carmen McRae once claimed that "there's really only one jazz singer - only one: Betty Carter."
Carter was especially known for her ability to capture the instrumental timbres in her voice. In fact, she insisted that the voice was as legitimate an instrument in jazz as any other. She was also fiercely independent and had her own Bet-Car label in the 1970s.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the album Betty Carter (Bet-Car MK 1002). Jim Determan, who updated the Lyons list, also recommends The Audience with Betty Carter, which was not available when Lyons wrote his book.
Blues singer Bessie Smith died on September 26, 1937, at the age of 43, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, following an automobile accident.
Smith was known as the Empress of the Blues, but she was also the first major jazz singer and can be said to have used the blues in jazz. Her phrasing, in particular, allowed her to transcend the rigid framework of the blues.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Bessie Smith's album, Nobody's Blues But Mine (Columbia CG 31093, 2 LPs). Unfortunately, the album is only available in vinyl. (There is a CD with the same title but without the same tracks.) Jim Determan, who updated the Lyons list, recommends instead the following:
Bessie Smith: The Essential Bessie Smith (Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Bessie Smith: Bessie Smith - The Collection (Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1 (Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 2 (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 3 (Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 4 (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 5 (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
An excellent example of Smith's singing is "Reckless Blues," which she sings with accompaniment by Louis Armstrong on the cornet and Fred Longshaw on the reed organ. The call and response between Smith and Armstrong is remarkable.
Duke Ellington: At All About Jazz, Chris Mosey reviews two Duke Ellington albums: My People — The Complete Show and The Treasury Shows, Volume 16. (Purchase My People — The Complete Show from Amazon.com. Purchase The Treasury Shows, Volume 16 from Amazon.com.)
Bill Evans: At JazzWax, Marc Myers discusses a 1976 concert at Carnegie Hall featuring pianist Bill Evans and singer Tony Bennett.
Bill Evans: Bill Evans's widow, Nenette, writes about her life with the great pianist at Time Remembered.
Thelonious Monk: Tim Niland reviews the Thelonious Monk album, Thelonious Monk - Original Album Classics (Sony, 2012), at Music and More. (Purchase Thelonious Monk — Original Album Classics from Amazon.com.)
September 23 is the birthday of a real giant in the world of jazz, John Coltrane (1926-1967), who "challenged himself artistically to a greater extent than any saxophonist in jazz's history," according to Len Lyons.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends four albums by Coltrane, all of which are available in CD:
Coltrane plays "Giant Steps" (with animated sheet music) here, a good example of what critic Ira Gitler referred to as the "sheets of sound" that Coltrane produced.
Bassist Jaco Pastorius died on September 21, 1987, at the age of 35, at the Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The cause of death was a massive brain hemmorhage caused by injuries he sustained in a scuffle with a night club bouncer. Pastorius was buried at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale.
Pastorius is best known for his work with Weather Report and is generally regarded as one of the most influential bass players of all time. He is one of only four bassists to be inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Pastorius plays "A Portrait of Tracy" from a Weather Report concert in Germany in 1978 here:
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Weather Report's album, 8:30. The album features Pastorius on cuts like "Black Market," "Teen Town," and "Slang." It is available from Barnes & Noble.
Jelly Roll Morton, the first major arranger of jazz, was born on September 20, 1885, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Morton claimed that he invented jazz, and while that claim is a stretch, he was certainly an important transitional figure between the stiff approach of ragtime and the flexibility and freedom of jazz.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends two albums by Jelly Roll Morton: Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, 1926-1927, Volume 3 (RCA France 731 059); and Jelly Roll Morton, 1923-1924 (Milestone M-47018, 2 LPs). These are available in vinyl only. There is a CD version of the latter album, but it omits the cuts from side 4 of the vinyl LP.
Jim Determan, who has updated Lyons's list of albums for CD, recommends instead the following titles:
Jelly Roll Morton: The Jelly Roll Morton Centennial (Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Jelly Roll Morton: 1926-1930 (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Jelly Roll Morton: Birth of the Hot (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Jelly Roll Morton: Rare Recordings of Piano Solos, 1923-1926 (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers play "Dead Man Blues" here. It is a good example of Morton's sense of collective improvisation.
Duke Ellington: John Wriggle reviews David Schiff's book, The Ellington Century, at Salon.
Herbie Hancock: Greg Simmons reviews Herbie Hancock's 1963 recording, Inventions and Dimensions, at All About Jazz. (Purchase Inventions and Dimensions from Amazon.com.)
Jazz singer and lyricist Jon Hendricks was born on September 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio. He was a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross and is one of the originators of vocalese, a technique that adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs. Al Jarreau, a pretty decent singer in his own right, called Hendricks "pound-for-pound the best jazz singer on the planet."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross album, The Best of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross (Columbia C-32911 or JCS-8198). Unfortunately, the album is only available in vinyl. Jim Determan, who has updated Lyons's list of albums for CD, recommends instead the following title:
Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross: Everybody's Boppin' (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces) (Buy at Barnes & Noble)
A good example of vocalese is Hendricks's version of the Herbie Hancock piece, "Watermelon Man":
Pianist Bill Evans died on September 15, 1980, in New York City of a bleeding ulcer, cirrhosis of the liver, and bronchial pneumonia. Evans's friend Gene Lees called Evans's struggle with drugs as "the longest suicide in history." He is buried at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Critic Richard S. Ginell says of Evans that he is "an entire school unto himself for pianists and a singular mood unto himself for listeners. There is no more influential jazz-oriented pianist." He had an impressionistic sound and an introverted style that allowed him to expand the traditional jazz repertoire and introduce a more European, classical style of playing.
An excellent biography of Evans is Peter Pettinger's Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings. (Available from Barnes & Noble.)
Evans plays "Waltz for Debby" here:
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends two albums by Evans, The Village Vanguard Sessions and Intuition. Both are available from Barnes & Noble: the remastered The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 and Intuition.
Alto saxophonist Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was born on September 15, 1928, in Tampa, Florida. Adderley is best known for his 1966 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy," which was a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including the iconic 1959 album, Kind of Blue.
Critic Scott Yanow says that Adderley "had an exuberant and happy sound that communicated immediately to listeners" and that his "intelligent presentation of his music (often explaining what he and his musicians were going to play) helped make him one of the most popular of all jazzmen."
A good example of Adderley's hard bop style is "Autumn Leaves," from his 1958 album, Somethin' Else, which included Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Sam Jones, and Hank Jones:
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Cannonball Adderley's album Coast to Coast. Unfortunately, the album is only available in vinyl. Jim Determan, who has updated Lyons's list of albums for CD, recommends instead the following titles:
Jazz keyboardist and composer Joe Zawinul died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 75. Zawinul was hospitalized in his native Vienna after concluding a five-week European tour and died from a rare form of skin cancer. He is buried in the Zentralfriedhof Cemetery in Vienna.
Critic Richard S. Ginell describes Zawinul as "a category unto himself — a European from the heartland of the classical music tradition (Vienna) who learned to swing as freely as any American jazzer, and whose appetite for growth and change remained insatiable."
Zawinul first played with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis before co-founding the groups Weather Report and the world fusion group Zawinul Syndicate. He was also a pioneer in the use of the electric piano and synthesizers in jazz and was named "Best Electric Keyboardist" 28 times by the readers of Down Beat magazine.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the Weather Report album, 8:30 (Columbia), which is available from Amazon.com.
Weather Report plays "In a Silent Way," one of the more lyrical pieces from the 8:30 album, here:
Chick Corea, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Weather Report: At Jazz (Jazzers Jazzing), Carl Hager is reporting the top vote getters in his poll for the best jazz/rock fusion recordings of all time and is re-opening the poll. So far, Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever is the top vote getter, followed by The Inner Mounting Flame by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, and Heavy Weather by Weather Report.
Oliver Nelson: Marc Myers has a great piece at JazzWax on the 1961 session in which Oliver Nelson and Red Garland recorded together for the first and only time. (The tracks were never released on a single album, but two of the tracks can be found on Red Garland's Soul Burnin', available from Amazon.com.)
Sonny Rollins: On September 7, his birthday, Sonny Rollins was named the Jazz Musician of the Day at All About Jazz.
September 7 is the birthday of arguably the greatest living jazz saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, born in 1930 in New York City.
As critic Michael G. Nastos says, Rollins "will go down in history as not only the single most enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop era, but also the greatest contemporary jazz saxophonist of them all. His fluid and harmonically innovative ideas, effortless manner, and easily identifiable and accessible sound have influenced generations of performers, but have also fueled the notion that mainstream jazz music can be widely enjoyed, recognized, and proliferated." Rollins is also known for the energy and exuberance of his live concerts, a feeling that some critics have argued cannot be captured in studio recordings.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Saxophone Colossus and More (Prestige P-24050, 2 LPs) and More from the Vanguard (Blue Note BN-LA475-H2, 2 LPs). The former is now available on CD — see below — but the latter is not. Jim Determan, who has updated the Lyons list for CD, also recommends the last four CDs in the list below.
Saxophone Colossus and More (Purchase from Barnes & Noble.)
On September 5, 1939, Count Basie's Kansas City Seven recorded "Lester Leaps In," featuring tenor saxophonist Lester Young.
Young based his composition on the chord changes to George and Ira Gershwin’s 1930 tune, "I Got Rhythm," which has provided the chord progressions for a number of jazz compositions, including Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche" and Ornette Coleman's "Chippie."
Young's recording with the Basie band consists of six choruses of 32 bars each:
Ensemble
Young
Young in stop time
Young and Basie trade fours
Young and the ensemble trade fours
Basie and the ensemble trade fours
The recording is interesting for a number of reasons.
First, as Alyn Shipton notes in A New History of Jazz, it shows Young's tendency to simplify: “far from employing the kind of substitute harmonies beloved of [Coleman] Hawkins, Young sought to simplify or reduce the harmonic material in a tune.... Young’s solo on ‘Lester Leaps In,’ with Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven, includes numerous examples of his tendency to simplify; although to counterbalance the most minimal aspects of the solo there are several neatly executed runs, arpeggios, and fills, in which he moves airily around the tenor."
Second, in spite of or in contrast to his tendency to simplify the harmonies, Young did revel in rhythmic variations. As Douglas Henry Daniels points out in his excellent biography, Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young, "the climactic moments in his solos are drum patterns as much as they are melodies." Or as Alyn Shipton again notes in A New History of Jazz, Young “tackled rhythm in a distinctly different way from [Coleman] Hawkins. Whereas Hawkins tended to construct rising and falling patterns of eighth notes, relying on harmonic complexity to provide interest, Young’s solo on ‘Lester Leaps In’ abounds with rhythmic variation. Some phrases enter exactly on the beat; others are delayed by an eighth note, or a quarter note. When a motif is repeated, it is often placed differently over the accompanying beat on each repetition, sometimes using a minute delay of anticipation.”
Third, there is the famous collision between Young and Count Basie at the beginning of Young's second chorus. According to Dave Gelly in Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young, "Lester carries doggedly on while Basie stops to get his bearings, and they're back on track eight bars later. A second take was recorded but Lester's solo was not so good, so the first was released, collision included." Gunther Schuller's analysis of the piece in The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 says much the same and suggests that Basie simply forgot about Young's second chorus.
There are several other noteworthy recordings of "Lester Leaps In," including the 1949 recording of a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert that includes some great solos by Charlie Parker — this was one of the few recordings of Parker with Young, his early mentor — as well as trumpeter Roy Eldridge (doing some nice interplay with Buddy Rich on drums) and tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips.
Vocalese pioneer Eddie Jefferson also wrote lyrics for the tune and recorded it as “I Got the Blues.”
Recordings of note:
Count Basie, The Essential Count Basie, Volume II. (Available at Amazon.com.)
Charlie Parker, Jazz at the Philharmonic 1949. (Available at Amazon.com.)
Eddie Jefferson, Jazz Singer. (Available at Amazon.com.)
Dave Brubeck: Peter Hum discusses the Dave Brubeck Quartet's tune, "Take Five," at the Ottawa Citizen. ("Take Five" is available on the album, Time Out, which is available from Amazon.com.)
John Coltrane: In Yes Weekly, Karen Phillips reviews the show, "John Coltrane vs. the Jazz Critics: 1961-1966," which is on display at Yalik’s Modern Art Gallery in High Point, NC.
Lionel Hampton: On August 31, the anniversary of Lionel Hampton's death, the Spanish language site Vintage Music, had a nice tribute to the great vibraphonist.
George Russell: John Kelman reviews Duncan Heining's book, George Russell: The Story of an American Composer at All About Jazz. (Purchase George Russell: The Story of an American Composer from Amazon.com.)
September 2 is the birthday of Horace Silver, whom Len Lyons referred to as one of the "founding fathers of funky hard bop." Jazz critic Chris Kelsey agrees, noting that "it is clear that few jazz musicians have had a greater impact on the contemporary mainstream than Horace Silver."
Silver was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1928 and was influenced by the Cape Verdean folk music of his Portuguese-born father as well as gospel and Latin American music.
Silver plays one of his best-known compositions, "Song for My Father," here:
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Silver's album, Doin' the Thing: At the Village Gate (Blue Note), which can be purchased from Amazon.com.
