Jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy died on June 29, 1964, in Berlin, Germany. He was only 36 years of age and apparently died of a coma brought on by an undiagnosed diabetic condition. He is buried in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in his home town of Los Angeles, California.
Dolphy — who played alto and baritone saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, and piccolo — partnered with Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and other jazz greats in the 1950s and 1960s and was, as Len Lyons puts it, one of the "crucial transitional figures between modern jazz and" free jazz.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Dolphy's Copenhagen Concert (Prestige), which is available from Amazon.com.
The Miles Davis Quintet’s Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (Columbia/Legacy) for Historical Album of the Year. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Wayne Shorter for Jazz Artist of the Year and Soprano Saxophonist of the Year.
The Wayne Shorter Quartet for Jazz Group of the Year.
The Wayne Shorter Quartet's Without a Net (Blue Note) for Jazz Album of the Year. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown died on June 26, 1956, while driving from Philadelphia to Chicago. He was buried in the Mt. Zion Cemetery, in Wilmington, Delaware, where he had been born just 25 years earlier.
Brown was an incredibly gifted musician whose career lasted just four years, but in that short space of time, he "played with a full-toned, linear lyricism which proved to be the only vital alternative during the 1950's to Miles Davis's understated melodic style," according to Len Lyons. Sonny Rollins, who worked for seven months with Brown, said simply, "He had it all."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Clifford Brown's The Quintet, Vol. 1 (EmArcy/Mercury), but that album is nearly impossible to find and is only available in vinyl. Jim Determan recommends two alternatives:
Clifford Brown and Max Roach (EmArcy/Polygram). Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Study in Brown (PID/Polygram). Purchase at Barnes & Noble.)
Jazz pianist and composer George Russell was born on June 23, 1923, in Cincinnati, Ohio. As critic Richard S. Ginell notes, Russell's "biggest effect upon jazz was in the quieter role of theorist." His musical ideas, published in his book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, led to the modal music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Russell's album, Outer Thoughts (Milestone), which he calls "a uniformly excellent performance." The album is not available on CD, but Jim Determan recommends the following alternatives:
George Russell: Ezz-thetics (Riverside). Available from Amazon.com.
George Russell: The Outer View (Riverside). Available from Amazon.com.
George Russell: The Stratus Seekers (Riverside). Available from Amazon.com.
The George Russell Sextet plays "Lydiot" (from the 1961 album Ezz-thetics) here:
George Benson: GLT Jazz Next features a cast with George Benson, who plays from his new album, "Inspiration." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Miles Davis: According to St. Louis Jazz Notes, artist Preston Jackson has been selected to create a statue of Miles Davis for display in Alton, IL, the town where Davis was born..
Eric Dolphy: On June 20, his birthday, Eric Dolphy was the Jazz Musician of the Day at All About Jazz.
Dizzy Gillespie: At JazzWax, Marc Myers discusses a video of Dizzy Gillespie playing with Ernie Wilkins' Almost Big Band in 1983 in Copenhagen.
Cecil Taylor: JazzTimes and Jazz Chronicles report that pianist and composer Cecil Taylor was among three Americans to receive the Kyoto Prize. The award, similar to a Nobel Prize, is given annually to persons who have excelled in the areas of the arts, philosophy, science and technology.
Thanks to this post at All About Jazz, I have been turned on to a marvelous jazz resource, the Internet streaming radio service AccuJazz.
AccuJazz has over 70 channels, all of which are available 24 hours per day and all of which are free. Just point your browser there, pick a channel, sit back, and listen. The channels cover just about any sub-genre of jazz that you can think of, everything from Old School to Avant Garde, with decade channels, instrument channels, and channels for specific artists included.
Two of the channels should interest readers of CoreJazz in particular. "Jazz 101" is a channel designed to educate newer jazz listeners, and "Top 50 Jazz Albums of All Time" is just what the title suggests, cuts from AccuJazz's list of the 50 best jazz albums ever.
The artists followed on this blog are well represented on the AccuJazz "Top 50 Jazz Albums of All Time" and include:
Louis Armstrong - Hot Fives and Sevens Recordings
Count Basie - Complete Atomic Basie
Art Blakey - Moanin'
Clifford Brown and Max Roach - Clifford Brown and Max Roach
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - Blue Train
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
Miles Davis - Milestones
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby
Ella Fitzgerald - Best of the Songbooks
Erroll Garner - Concert By the Sea
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Coleman Hawkins - Body and Soul
Billie Holiday and Lester Young - A Musical Romance
Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Charles Mingus - Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Thelonious Monk - Best of the Blue Note Years
Charlie Parker - The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
Jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy was born on June 20, 1928, in Los Angeles, California. Dolphy — who played alto and baritone saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, and piccolo — partnered with Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and other jazz greats in the 1950s and 1960s.
Dolphy was, as Len Lyons puts it, one of the "crucial transitional figures between modern jazz and" free jazz. Critic Scott Yanow adds that "While most of the other 'free jazz' players sounded very serious in their playing, Dolphy's solos often came across as ecstatic and exuberant."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Dolphy's Copenhagen Concert (Prestige), which is available from Amazon.com.
Cannonball Adderley and Milt Jackson, Things Are Getting Better
Bill Evans Trio, How My Heart Sings!
Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan Meets Monk
Wes Montgomery, So Much Guitar!
Louis Armstrong: Open Culture shares the earliest known footage of Louis Armstrong performing live, in Copenhagen in 1933.
Dave Brubeck: At RJ on Jazz, R.J. DeLuke reports that Dave Brubeck will join the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Walk of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY. Brubeck played that the Saratoga Jazz Festival 13 times, more than any other performer.
Chick Corea: On June 12, his birthday, Chick Corea was the Jazz Musician of the Day at All About Jazz.
Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest female jazz singer ever, died on June 15, 1966, in Beverly Hills, California. She had been ill for a number of years, due to complications from diabetes and heart surgery. On her last day, she was wheeled into the backyard of her Beverly Hills home, where she sat for about an hour. When she was being brought back in, Fitzgerald looked up with a soft smile and said, "I’m ready to go now." She is buried in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
Bing Crosby summed up her talents best when he said, "Man, woman, or child, Ella is the greatest." Jazz critic Scott Janow says that Fitzgerald was "blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, … could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution." Len Lyons speaks of her "full-blown dynamic style," "rhythmic punch," "verve and imagination," and "energy and consistency."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Lyons recommends Ella's album, Mack the Knife (Verve), which is available on vinyl only. Jim Determan, who updated the Lyons book for CDs, recommends as an alternative Mack the Knife — The Complete Ella in Berlin (Verve), noting that "Some additional cuts, mostly standards of Ella's concert repertoire (not all actually from the Berlin concert), round out this set to make it an even better collection than it was." The CD is available from Amazon.com.
Jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery died of a heart attack on June 15, 1968, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was just 45 years old. He is buried in the New Crown Cemetery in Indianapolis.
Jazz critics Dave Miele and Dan Bielowsky said that Montgomery "was certainly one of the most influential and most musical guitarists to ever pick up the instrument" and that he "took the use of octaves and chord melodies to a greater level than any other guitarist, before or since." Montgomery played with his thumb rather than with a pick, and this gave his playing a uniquely round and soft sound.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the Wes Montgomery album, While We're Young (Milestone). Unfortunately, the album is only available on vinyl. For CDs, Jim Determan recommends the following:
Wes Montgomery: Incredible Jazz Guitar (Original Jazz Classics), available from Amazon.com.
Wes Montgomery: So Much Guitar! (Riverside), available from Amazon.com.
Jazz pianist Erroll Garner was born on June 15, 1923, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As critic Scott Yanow notes, Garner was a "brilliant virtuoso who sounded unlike anyone else." Garner's best-known composition, "Misty," is a jazz standard.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Garner's album, Concert by the Sea, which he calls "the steadiest selling jazz album in history." The album is available on CD from Amazon.com.
Clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman died of a heart attack in New York City on June 13, 1986, at the age of 77. He was buried near his country farm home outside Stamford, Connecticut, next to his wife, who had passed away in 1978.
Goodman was known as "the King of Swing" and led one of the most popular musical groups in America. Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz, including Chrlie Christian, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, and Lionel Hampton. During the age of segregation, Goodman also led one of the first well-known racially-integrated jazz groups.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert - 1938 (Columbia), which, according to Lyons, "catches the band at its peak." This concert is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music." The album is available on CD from Amazon.com.
Goodman's band can be heard playing "Honeysuckle Rose" from that Carnegie Hall concert here:
Jazz keyboardist and composer Chick Corea was born on June 12, 1941, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Critic Scott Yanow calls Corea "one of the most significant jazzmen since the '60s," and Len Lyons says that "No musician has used the fusion concept with more variety, intelligence, and unimpeachable taste ..."
Corea, who has won 18 Grammy Awards, began working with Miles Davis in 1968, including playing piano on the historic Bitches Brew album. In the early 1970s, his band Return to Forever established a jazz fusion style that incorporated Latin elements. He also began a series of collaborations with artists such as Gary Burton, Herbie Hancock, and Bela Fleck.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends three albums by Corea:
Light as a Feather (Polydor). Available from Amazon.com.
Where Have I Known You Before? (Polydor). Available from Amazon.com.
My Spanish Heart (Polydor). Available from Amazon.com.
Corea and his band play "Spain" (from Light as a Feather) live at Montreux here:
George Benson: At All About Jazz, Mehdi El Mouden reviews the May 2013 George Benson performance with L'Orchestre Symphonique Royal in Rabat, Morocco.
Dave Brubeck, Bud Powell, Sarah Vaughan: At his "Weekend Wax Bits" on JazzWax, Marc Myers shares a video of Dave Brubeck's "Time out" LP, a reader's reminiscences of Bud Powell, and news that Verve has released Divine: the Jazz Albums 1954-58, a box set of seven remastered Sarah Vaughan albums. (Purchase the album, Divine: the Jazz Albums 1954-58, from Amazon.com.)
Miles Davis: According to Miles Davis Online, an exhibition of 35 pieces of original artwork by Davis is at the Napa Valley Museum from June 8 through July 28.
Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton: At Jazz Lives, Michael Steinman shares a photo of Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Sid Catlett, Buddy Rich, and others that was recently for sale on eBay.
Miles Davis: Jazz bassist and composer Marcus Miller names Miles Davis's Milestones as his "One LP" at All About Jazz. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Bud Powell: At JazzWax, Marc Myers looks at Bud Powell's sessions with RCA from the mid-1950s, which resulted in the albums Strictly Powell and Swingin' with Bud. (Purchase Strictly Powell from Amazon.com. Purchase Swingin' with Bud from Amazon.com.)
Cannonball Adderley: Marc Myers shares a video of Cannonball Adderley appearing on the TV show "The Subject Is Jazz" at JazzWax.
Louis Armstrong: At The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, Ricky Riccardi announces the release of a new Mosaic Records boxed set of Louis Armstrong recordings, Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and His All Stars (1947-1958).
George Benson: Bruce Lindsay reviews the new George Benson album, Inspiration: A Tribute To Nat King Cole, at All About Jazz. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Dave Brubeck: At The Guardian, John Fordham reviews the album Tony Bennett/Dave Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
Dave Brubeck: Open Culture shares a video of the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing on the British television show, "Jazz 625," in 1964.
Miles Davis: Marc Myers shares a British documentary on Miles Davis at JazzWax.
Jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher Anthony Braxton was born on June 4, 1945, in Chicago, Illinois. Critic Chris Kelsey claims that Braxton "might very well be jazz's last bona fide genius" and notes that "His self-invented (yet heavily theoretical) approach to playing and composing jazz seemed to have as much in common with late 20th century classical music as it did jazz."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Braxton's album, The Montreux/Berlin Concerts (Arista), which he calls "the most manageable, dependable vehicle for Braxton's adventurous spirit." This album is available on CD from Amazon.com.
Braxton and his quartet play "You Stepped Out Of a Dream" from a 1975 album, Five Pieces, here:
Jazz saxophonist and arranger Oliver Nelson was born on June 4, 1932, in St. Louis, Missouri. Nelson was, as critic Scott Yanow notes, "a distinctive soloist on alto, tenor, and even soprano [saxophone], but his writing eventually overshadowed his playing skills."
Nelson's best known album, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, according to Len Lyons, "receives nearly the same adulation among musicians as Miles Davis's Kind of Blue to which it is similar in style ..."
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Nelson's album, Three Dimensions: The Dedication Series, Vol. 3 (Impulse). This album is not available on CD, and Jim Determan recommends instead two of Nelson albums:
The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Analogue Products) (Purchase the CD at Barnes & Noble.)
Sound Pieces (Impulse) (Purchase the CD at Barnes & Noble.)
Nelson's Septet plays "Stolen Moments," from the album Blues and the Abstract Truth, here:
