Concert: James Spaulding + Rein de Graaff Trio - 2

Op zondag 2 april 2006 geeft James Spaulding samen met het Rein de Graaff trio een concert in Porgy en Bess in Terneuzen. Gisteren aandacht voor Rein de Graaff en zijn trio - vandaag informatie over James Spaulding.

Altsaxofonist en fluitist James Spaulding werd in 1937 geboren in Indianapolis. Zijn vader was jazzgitarist en muziekleraar. Hij was en in de jaren twintig leider van de Original Brown Buddies. In de late jaren vijftig trok James naar Chicago omdat hij daar Johnny Griffin wilde ontmoeten. Hij had een plaat van hem gehoord en was daar enorm van onder de indruk geraakt. Na een tijdje werd hij lid van het Sun Ra Arkestra. In 1962 trok hij na een korte terugkeer in Indianapolis naar New York waar hij ging samenwerken met Freddy Hubbard, Randy Weston en Max Roach. In 1976 maakte hij zijn eerste album als bandleider, The Legacy of Duke Ellington op het label Storyville. Sindsdien heeft hij als leider opnamen gemaakt voor de labels Muse, High Note en zijn eigen merk Peetone. Spaulding is ook een interessante componist die stukken heeft geschreven ter ere van Malcolm X en Martin Luther King. Hij is nog enorm actief in allerlei formaties. Zijn website is indrukwekkend en met name zijn discografie is enorm.

Informatie: Porgy en Bess Jazz Club, Terneuzen.

Concert: James Spaulding + Rein de Graaff Trio - 1

Zondag 2 april organiseert de Stichting Porgy en Jazz in Terneuzen:Het Rein de Graaff Trio met Marius Beets, Eric Ineke en speciale gast James Spaulding.

Jazzpianist Rein de Graaff leerde zichzelf zonder enige formele educatie pianospelen en raakte totaal verslingerd aan deze muziek. Hij musiceert al tientallen jaren op hoog niveau. Hij onderzoekt de mogelijkheden van de piano, waarbij hij het instrument benadert als een blazer. Zijn soli vallen op door een sterk ritmische intensiteit.De Graaff werd voor zijn opmerkelijke pianospel onderscheiden door toekenning van twee prestigieuze jazzprijzen: in 1980 ontving hij de Boy Edgar Prijs en in 1986 de Bird Award.

De concerten van Rein de Graaff trio in mijn concert log:

1998: met David Fathead Newman en Houston Person zie 1 febr. 1998
2002: met Johnny Griffin' zie 11 mei 2002

2005: met Sonny Fortune zie 10 april 2005

Morgen meer info over James Spaulding.

Information: Porgy en Bess - Terneuzen ( The Netherlands)

Ike Quebec

Some records hit you when you play them for the very first time. The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions of Ike Quebec is such a set, reissued on a 2CD by Blue Note's Connoisseur CD series.

The tracks are all originally recorded on singles for jukebox around 1960 in a period this kind of soul, R&B music became very popular by musicians like Lou Donaldson and Jimmy Smith. The relaxed way Ike plays these tunes on tenor, backed by Hammond, is a style between Coleman Hawkins and the soft touch of Ben Webster. Great music to relax.

Ike Quebec died from lung cancer in 1963 at the age of 45 and left us a small but significant legacy of bop recordings.

Sun Ra's Cry of Jazz

Last week I found a copy of the film Cry of Jazz ( 1959) made in cooperation with Sun Ra and his Arkestra. As the playing time is only 30 minutes I wondered if it is worth having it, so I didn't buy it. Can someone tell me where the film is all about? And if it is a documentary about Sun Ra or a film with Sun Ra in the sound track.
Information says it's a semi-documentary film about Blacks in the US and I wonder if it is worth having it.

Oscar and Django - a story

The last post according the Oscar Aleman track that concludes the integral Django Reinhardt recordings, made me to remember the following small story:

One story tells us how Oscar Aleman was dining at Pigalle’s La Cloche d’Or after he played in a Josephine Baker show when one of Django’s band members came in, in a rush and asked if he could help, because all strings of Django’s guitar were broken. Aleman always had a spare set and gave it to the man: “Here give it to Django and say Bon Soir from me”. Several nights later, Oscar dined in the same restaurant and when he wanted to pay the bill, Django had paid it all to thank him.

part of the El redescubrimiento de Oscar Aleman presentation ( Copenhagen 2005)

This blog is also posted at my Oscar Aleman weg log

Jazz At The Philharmonic

Sometimes you can buy a record although you have your doubts about the music on it. I did when I bought a very cheap box of 8 CD called Jazz At The Philharmonic. But I got my money's worth. The box doesn't give much information about musicans or recording dates, only that the music was recorded between 1945 and 1946. Each CD gives a track list and the musicians on the set. As I tried to make some order to the tracks I learned that some tracks were recorded early 1950s and that most of the tracks are not inserted in chronological order. So a hotchpotch of tunes.

But the music is most of the times excellent. The first tracks on the seventh CD contain a jam session with musicans like Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Barney Kessel, Flip Philips, Charlie Shavers, Benny Carter, Lester Young and Roy Eldridge and must have been recorded somewhere early 1950s. Great music with great names and excellent solo's. Another example is CD 2 with lenghtly sessions featuring Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Lester Young. Thanks to the fact that this were live recordings, organised by Norman Granz it has that atmosphere, not limited to the 3-minutes barriere of the ordinairy 78rpm recording. Some titles were origninally recorded on three or four 78 rpm record sides.

If you have an opportunity ..... try to find this stuff. Most are great !!

Happy birthday Brian !!:

Today Brian Rust, the nestor of all jazz- and dance bands discographies celebrates his birthday. He is 84 years old now. Every record collector has a least one of his books within reach. Although he isn't active in this field any more because of his age, his name is mentioned at least hundred times a day when collectors quarrel about their beloved records: Rust says .......
Among the books he compiled his best known is the Jazz Records 1897 - 1942. For me, as a teenager, it was the first book I could affort, although I had to make a hard decision, due to shortage of money: Rust or a pile of LPs. Later I bought the British Dance Bands On Record 1911 to 1945. The third important Rust was very difficult to obtain, as it had been out of print for a long time: The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942. I remember that I had to make trips to The Hague ( two hours by train) to consult Rust, as is was the nearest place to find a copy of the Dance Bands. Thanks to a collector who finished record collecting, I found my own copy. The Complete Entertainment Discography was my last Rust. I remember that I sent him a copy of my Hit of the week - Durium Record Discography and that he sent me information about the Goodson Records, a then new discographical project.

Happy Birthday, Brian

Oscar Aleman Odeon's

Han Enderman sent me some new Oscar Aleman Odeon labels he found on eBay. I posted it in my online discography and my
Oscar Aleman web log.

Flexo- the ultimate flexible record

I love record hunting - some of you will know that and feel the same. My Hit of the week collection is almost complete. These flexible records were released early 1930s to be an answer of the vulnerable 78rpm recordings of those days. The Durium card board records were durable and even today they play perfect, if you can get it flat. During the1920s other firms produced unbreakable records, mostly made from a kind of plastic or, Rhodoid, as Goodson claimed. I now do have several of these rare flexible Goodsons and other 1920s unbreakable records (like Filmophone and Phonycord). All these records are rare and mostly unplayable after 75 years, so you must be a bit weird to collect these warped records. To be honest, I don't buy 78rpm anymore at auction lists unless it crosses my way and I won't lose an opportunity. A more cheaper way is collecting the different labels of flexible records and post them on my website. So, ... I don't seem to be so foolish as it looks.





There is one label, the NEW FLEXO and the FLEXO (Isn't it strange that both labels - NEW FLEXO and FLEXO appear on the same record?) who are very very rare. There are few collectors who have such a rare Flexo in their collection. You'll never find this label in auction lists, so I was very suprised to get a mail from Malcolm Rockwell that two of these very rare records were to be sold on eBay. I hope to find such a record before I'm old and grey (bald?), so I can feel it in my hands or smell that typically chemical odour of early plastics. it brings back remembrances to the time when I was a kid in the 1950s I had a kind of plastic rain cape that smelled the same way when it has been in its bag for a long time during hot summer weeks.

About the record:

Side by side - 845 - Jack Riley's Orch ( THE NEW FLEXO)
Me and my Shadow - 848 - Jack Riley's Orch (FLEXO)
Recorded ca. 1931

Aki Takase plays Fats Waller

What a surprise !!

As a fan of Fats Waller's music I found a announcement for a program at Mezzo ( a French music TV station) titled Freedom Now ! Aki Takase plays Fats Waller.

Well, I'd never heard about her and so I switch on the TV-set for her show last week. It was a surprise. The program was a mix between a concert, a documentary, a sound- and a film project, a piece of art, so a various program. Not a note-for-note copying of Fats stride piano nor singing, as we know from musicans like Ralph Sutton, but a new interpretation of his well known tunes.

Who is this Aki Takase? Her web site gives us the information: http://www.akitakase.com/aki/ Born in Japan, she's now active as a piano player and composer in the European (free)jazz and neuen jazz scene especially in Germany. Her Fats Waller project is not her first one - other projects were solo and duo projects with musicans like Alex von Schlippenbach, a well known free jazz musician.

I'm sure that a lot of you will knit yours brows hearing the sometimes weird rhythms and sounds, but I was suprised to hear how she used the well known Waller tunes, using the same drive and swing and her free stride piano playing style. I had to smile hearing her banjo player Eugene Chadbourne plunged into Wallers scats.

If you visit her web site, don't hesitate to find her projects and click on one of the two sound fragments that illustrate her Fats Waller project. I was very surprised, so for me it is great music !!

Kansas City - Jazz '34 - part two

As I asked for information about the availability of the Robert Altman film Kansas City on DVD I got several responses, but no-one could tell me more about the documentary I mentioned.

Thanks to a very informative link at the Library of Congress Sites, that has an online searchable database with the famous David Meeker Jazz In The Movies book I could find a link to the correct information about that documentary.

The complete title of the documentary is Robert Altman's Jazz '34 Remembrances of Kansas City Swing and it was released in 1996.

It was released as DVD !!

Thanks Jazzbo

Kansas City - Jazz '34 - part one

Jazz-on-film seems to become the new hype as the DVD ousts the CD from the market. A well known film is Robert Altmans Kansas City. The film was no success and I still haven't seen a DVD copy of it in the record shop.

The story is very meager, but the shots of the band playing the music are great. The musicians, all playing 1930s Kansas City musicians are in fact 1990s leading jazz artists, mostly recording for the Verve label, like Kevin Mahogany, Nicholas Payton, James Zollar, Don Byron, James Carter, Jesse Davis, David Fathead Newman, David Murray, Joshua Redman, Russell Malone , Mark Whitfield, Geri Allen, Cyrus Chestnut, Ron Carter, Christian McBride and Victor Lewis. The sound tracks are available on two CDs ( Verve 529 554 and KC After Dark ( Verve 537 322 ). As I learned from the Jazzforum (Yannick's list) most of you are ignorant about the existence of the Robert Altman documentary Kansas City - Jazz '34 which contains the concerts / jams of the All Star Kansas City Bandas used as shots in the film. A great image of the time! I never have seen it as a DVD or Video tape, but it has been broadcasted on a Dutch or Belgian TV station some years ago

Ben op zijn Best

Jeroen de Valk also tells the story about a rare 1970 Webster recording for the album Ben op zijn Best. The recording contains traditionals and Ben is backed by the best Dutch jazz players of the moment: Ray Kaart, Herman Schoonderwalt, Ruud Brink, Cees Slinger, Rob Langereis and John Engels. The record was sold at Albert Hein and was sold out within a few weeks. Jeroen de Valk tells in his articvle Het geheim van mevrouw Hartloper about the the reissue of the LP on French RCA Ben didn't know about. He believed that Cees Slinger had sold the rights without his permission. That wasn't true. It is a fact that this LP was never reissues on CD.

I'm proud to have a copy of this LP.

The secret of Mrs. Hartloper - 2

When you have seen the Van der Keuken film Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe (1967) film, I guess you'll have the same experience as I had. Why did she pamper this giant child, that drinks his genever and films every moving object that rides through the street with his amateur film camera?

Jeroen de Valk talked with Mrs. Hartlopers grandson, who lifts a corner of the veil. about his grandfather who happens to have been a jewish US soldier who stayed in Europe after World War I, playing the jazz violin for a living. He married Mrs. Hartloper in 1925, but left her, with a child, alone after a few years to wander about Europe as a jazz musician.

Jeroen de Valk wants to know if someone can help him to complete this story. What happend to this Louis Hartloper?

Jeroen de Valk also digs up another nice story in his great article - about the record production of Ben Op Zijn Best. I hope to tell you the story behind that record later.

to be continued later

The secret of Mrs. Hartloper.

I found a very interestic article in the new Jazz Bulletin of the Dutch Jazz Archive called "Het geheim van mevrouw Hartloper" ( The secret of mrs. Hartloper ).

For those people who have never heard of Mrs. Hartloper - she was for three years the landlady of Ben Webster during the second part of the 1960s when Ben lived in Amsterdam at the Waalstraat 77. She became famous for her part in Johan van der Keuken's 1967 film Big Ben: Bew Webster in Europe. The documentary, which is one of my favorites, shows all day life Ben drinking his snifter, playing his licks accompanied by his gramophone and filming the baboons in Artis, the Amsterdam zoo.

Mrs. Hartloper plays her part as a tender housewife, nearly like a mother for Ben, communicating with him in a very special mix of the Dutch and English language. A very famous quote of her, transcribed from the film, is: Voor that you out gaat, you eerst eten? Manger? Five o'clock? Half six? Oh so late !

Jeroen de Valk, who wrote a book about Ben, reveals the secret of Mrs. Hartloper. Why did she behave like that and what was her story?

more later

Guitar Choro part two

Today I'd like to present Jørgen's second part of his series dedicated to Guitar Choro. He tells about his cooperation to the El redescubrimiento de Oscar Aleman project and finds out about Oscar Aleman being a great choro player too. He also introduces us to the music of Carmen Miranda and her guitar player Garoto.

Guitar Choro part two

( If you missed the start: Guitar choro part one )

The Jukebox

Each month Jeff Lichtman prepares a bunch of 78rpm recordings for download from the internet. This month he has some blues recordings in his jukebox. The performers are Georgia White, Rosetta Howard with the Harlem Hamfats, Johnny Temple, Blind Boy Fuller, Roosevelt Sykes, Tommy McClennan, Lightnin' Hopkins, Joshua Johnson, Washboard Sam and Sonny Terry.

A link I'd like to share with you.

To the jukebox

Guitar Choro part one

Joergen Larsen (Denmark) posted the first part of his series Choro Guitar. In this first part he describes how he get stucked by the Choro virus.

Watch out. It seems worser then the bird flu !!

Guitar Choro - part one

image: Turibio Santos

Miles Davis Live In Den Haag

I am very pleased with a recording I found some weeks ago, called Miles Davis Quintet Live In Den Haag. This CD, released by Lonehill Jazz, gave me some great music from a period Miles Davis was at his best. The recordings were made on 9 April 1960 at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen ( The Hague) where Miles played as part of a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. Other musicians that played a set at this concert are the Stan Getz Quartet and the Oscar Peterson Trio. These sets are not on the album. At midnight the concert was repeated at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The all American quintet ( with Davis with John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb ) plays great and while listening to the tracks Miles improvises every tune, allthough well known from other recordings, as if he creates it for the very first time.

A few weeks ago, when I had this record in my hands, being in two minds to buy it or not, I wondered if this recording should bring me something new , something exciting, something special between those other 50 Miles Davis CDs I gathered during the last cententials.

It did and it was as if I attended the evening myself. I can recommend this CD, which also includes some tracks played some years earlier in a TV broadcast or at the Blue Note Club in Philadelphia.

I received a catalogue from this Lonehill Jazz label and I am impressed by the albums it contains. One of the recordings I found in their catalogue is the 1957 Amsterdam Miles Davis recording with his (European) Quintet ( feat. Barney Wilen, René Urtreger, Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke.) It is a great concert too - I already heard it due to a radio program. I´m very anxious to hear more of this label and I hope my record shop will store more items of Lonehill Jazz.