Happy Prez Day
Today is a holiday called President’s Day here in the states, so what better way to celebrate:
.
Category: Jazz Clips
Enjoying a Hard Bop Classic
There was, the other day, an odd confluence of events that is prompting me to post a piece of music on Jazz Collector. I was reading Rudolf’s comments about the Elmo Hope LP and his statement about it being an obligatory piece in any hard bop collection and I realized that I never actually thought of my collection as being hard bop, although, of course, that tends to be the predominant music. The thought was kind of roiling in my brain when I got in the car for a couple-hour ride to Boston and I plucked an old CD/playlist I had made a while ago and had simply labeled “Favorites.” And the first song that came on was this Hard Bop Classic and I smiled because I always smile when I hear this song because, to me, it just wonderfully captures that early stage of the hard bop era. So I thought I was play it for everyone, and put a smile on all of your faces, especially when you hear the wonderful, creative, brilliant trumpet solo. And I will imagine that most of you will know the song and the album and the musicians because, as Rudolf would say, it is also an obligatory piece in any hard bop collection. And, for those that don’t know it, enjoy it here and I’m sure one or more of our good loyal readers will tell you more about it.
More Vintage Getz
Posting that clip on Stan Getz playing The Way You Look Tonight evoked something for a bunch of readers last week. I got a note from my friend Dan Axelrod with an interesting story and clip:
“Billy Bauer told me he was in the Royal Roost in the early 50’s and Stan on a break returned to the bandstand and without accompaniment daven’d Little Girl Blue and when he was done there wasn’t a dry eye in the club.This ’56 live Basin Street Cafe rendition (Shelly Manne, Oscar Pettiford, Dick Katz) evokes a bit of that beauty- if you wanna post.”
A few words of explanation. Dan uses the word “daven’d.” This would be something of a Jewish colloquialism, although I’ve never heard anyone else use it precisely in this context. I think it generally means prayed, but in this case
A Short Clip: Jimmy Raney With Stan Getz
I was thinking about what Bethellodge stated on the earlier post about Jimmy Raney. I set up some new software yesterday making it easier to record from my turntable into the computer, so I’ve been playing with it and decided to try it out here and provide a service to the community as well. The idea was to post something from the Jimmy Raney Ensemble 10-inch LP, pictured here, and I was recording Stella By Starlight when I realized if Bethellodge and others were not aware of Raney, it would also mean that they were probably not aware of one of my very favorite records in the world, which is Stan Getz Plays, Norgran 1042. Raney is pretty much a supporting player on this LP — I think he has just one solo — but Getz is in absolutely top form on this LP and Getz in top form is as good as anyone who ever held a tenor sax. So, from Stan Getz Plays, here is The Way You Look Tonight, with some supporting guitar work by Jimmy Raney in the ensembles. Enjoy.
