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Drummer Art
Blakey and his band, The Jazz Messengers, are the pioneers of a jazz sub-genre
called “hard bop”. Hard bop takes the fundamentals of be-bop and adds elements
of rhythm and blues. The idea behind hard bop was to make be-bop music more
danceable and perhaps, more palatable to mainstream music fans.
Art
Blakey was born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, in 1919, and by the
Fifties, his virtuosic and incessant drumming would put him at the forefront of
the be-bop genre along with Dizzy Gilliespie, Thelonious Monk and others.
Singer/songwriter
Ben E. King is one of the best performers of the smooth soul singer set. King,
who was born Benjamin Earl Nelson in Henderson,
North Carolina, in 1938, got his
start in music with a revamped version of the Drifters, in 1958.
As the
lead singer of this new incarnation of the Drifters, King lent his velvet pipes
to the hits, “There Goes My Baby,” (which he co-wrote) “Save the Last Dance for
Me,” and “This Magic Moment.”
Due to a
contract dispute with Drifters manager George Treadwell, King left the group
and embarked on a solo career in 1960. King would soon find solo success with a
number of classic hits including the Phil Spector-produced “Spanish Harlem” and
“Stand by Me.” Both of these songs are among the finest pop records made in the
decade. King would score a number of lesser hits in the early Sixties with the
songs, “Young Boy Blues,” I (Who Have Nothing),” and “Hear Comes the Night.”
King’s
classic hits can be found on the compilations, “Stand By Me-The Best of Ben E.
King and Ben E, King and the Drifters” (1986), “Stand By Me (The Ultimate
Collection” (1987), and “Anthology” (1993).
Julia Lee
was among the best female jazz singers and pianists of the Thirties and Forties.
Lee was born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1902, and grew up in Kansas City.
Lee began
her career in the Twenties as a pianist with several bands including the band
of her brother, George Lee. She made her recording debut in 1927 as a pianist
for Jesse Stone. In 1935, Lee embarked on her own solo career and made her
first recordings on for Capitol Records in 1945.
During the
Forties, Lee scored a number of R&B hits including, “Gotta Gimme Whatcha
Got,” “Snatch and Grab It,” “King Size Papa,” and “My Man Stands Out.” She was
accompanied on these recordings by the likes of Red Nichols, Jay McShan, Benny
Carter, and Red Norvo.
Lee’s
classic recordings can be found on the following albums: Classics Julia Lee
1927-1946” (1995) and “Classics Julia Lee 1947” (1995).
Anthony
Braxton is among the most learned of jazz musicians and is currently a
professor of music at WesleyanUniversity in Connecticut.
He is also a jazz composer, saxophonist, flautist, pianist, and clarinetist.
Braxton was born in Chicago,
Illinois, in 1945.
Early in
his career, Braxton became involved with The Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians, and recorded his debut album, “3 Compositions of New Jazz,”
in 1968. The album was a free jazz excursion that is probably too far removed
from mainstream music to be of interest to those who are not free jazz fans.
In 1971,
Braxton recorded the album “For Alto” which consisted of Braxton solo on
alto-saxophone without accompaniment. The album is a double-disc offering of
free jazz sax solos that while lauded by critics is definitely not for
everyone.
Braxton
has been extremely prolific over the years, and he has recorded dozens of
albums of free jazz and avant-garde jazz since the mid-Sixties. Braxton has
also recorded with numerous fellow musicians such as Chick Corea, George Lewis,
Fred Frith, and John Zorn.
Among the
best albums from Braxton extensive catalogue are those mentioned above and the
following: “Saxophone Improvisation Series F” (1972), “Trio and Duet” (1975), “Four
Compositions” (1973)” (1977), “Performance 9/1/79” (1981), “Quartet (London)
1985” (1988), “Six Monk’s Compositions” (1987)” (1988), “Seven Compositions
(Trio) 1989” (1990), “Dortmund (Quartet) 1976” (1991), “Willisau (Quartet) 1991”
(1992), “Quartet (Coventry) 1985” (1993), “Creative Orchestra (Kohl) 1978”
(1995), “Quintet (Basel) 1977” (2001), “23 Standards (Quartet) 2003” (2004),
and “9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006” (2007).
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Most jazz
critics consider Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge as the successor of Louis Armstrong in the evolution
of jazz trumpet players. Armstrong is almost universally considered as the
greatest jazz trumpeter in history; however, Eldridge is viewed as the musician
who took the hot New Orleans style of Armstrong and turned it into something
new.
Eldridge was
notable for his rough and speedy technique, particularly when playing high
notes on the trumpet. A now almost forgotten trumpeter, Jabbo Smith, who rivaled
the virtuosity of Armstrong in the late Twenties, was a huge influence on
Eldridge, as was Armstrong.
In terms of jazz
cornet/trumpet greatness, the progression is loosely as follows: Buddy
Bolden-Freddie Keppard-King Oliver-Louis Armstrong-Roy Eldridge-Dizzy
Gillespie-Miles Davis-Clifford Brown.
Eldridge was
born to a musical family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1911. As a child,
Eldridge became a drummer in the band of his brother, Joe, before his brother
convinced him to pick up the trumpet. By the age of 20, he had started his own
band in Pittsburgh and then left that band to join the band of Horace
Henderson, brother of the great New York bandleader, Fletcher Henderson.
Shortly thereafter, in 1930, Eldridge moved to New York City.
In New York, Eldridge
found work with a number of dance bands, and by 1935, while as a member of the
Teddy Hill Orchestra, Eldridge made his first recordings. Eldridge would
eventually land a gig with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from 1935-36,
becoming Henderson’s star soloist by lending his hot solos to the Henderson
classics, “Christopher Columbus” and “Blue Lou.”
Eldridge later
moved on to work with white bands led by Gene Kroupa, and later, Artie Shaw.
The presence of an African-American musician in a white band was a rarity in
the segregated America of the Thirties. In the post-war era, Eldridge became one
of the leading musicians that toured under the banner of “Jazz at the
Philharmonic.” He also freelanced with the bands of Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald
and Benny Goodman.
Eldridge’s best
recordings include, “Drummer Man” (1956) with Gene Kroupa, “Rockin’ Chair”
(1956), “Little Jazz” (1989), anda
number of compilations dedicated to his music. Eldridge died in 1989.
Badfinger
was a superb pop/rock band that formed in Abertawe,
England, in
1969. The band was initially notable as the first band signed to the Beatles’
Apple Records. The music that Badfinger produced reminded many of the Beatles
and the band’s presence on the Apple label had many dismiss them as Beatles
wannabes.
Badfinger
recorded the excellent album, “Straight Up,” (1971), that saw the band fulfill
the promise that they had shown in getting signed to Apple. The album contained the classic tracks and
minor hits, “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue.”
The
Straight Up album is one of the earliest examples of what would later be coined
“power pop,” with the amplified guitar sound, perfect vocal harmonies and
catchy melodies. Power pop bands such as Big Star and The Raspberries would
follow in their wake.
Badfinger’s
story would end sadly as the group would never shake their image as a
second-rate Beatles clone. The members would wind up in financial hardship
driving leader Pete Ham to commit suicide in 1975.
The
Animals, lead by singer, Eric Burdon, were part of the British invasion of the Sixties.
The Animals were among the finest of the blues-based rock bands to emerge from Britain in the Sixties.
Burdon,
organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel started out in a Newcastle band called the Kansas City Five.
In 1962, with the additions of guitarist Hilton Valentine and bassist Chas
Chandler, the band eventually became known as the Animals.
The band landed a regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club in London. Record producer Mickie Most got them
signed to EMI on the strength of their live performances, and the label
released their first singles, “Baby Let Me Take You Home” and “House of the
Rising Sun,” in 1964. The latter song would become a huge hit and transform the
band into one of the leading acts of the British Invasion.
The
Animals continued recording a slew of hits throughout the Sixties with, “Don’t
Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Got to Get Out Of This Place,” “When I Was Young,”
“Monterrey,” and Sky Pilot.”
After
recording several excellent albums, starting with their fine debut release, “The
Animals” (1964) the band broke-up in 1969.
The
Amazing Rhythm Aces were one of the finest country rock bands of the Seventies.
The band played its country rock with a large dose of the blues and under the
leadership of singer/guitarist Russell Smith scored a hit with “Third Rate
Romance” in 1975. That song can be found on the band’s excellent debut album, “Stacked
Deck” (1975).
The band’s
sophomore album, “Too Stuffed to Jump” (1976), was another fine effort with the
track, “The End is not in Sight” as the album’s highlight.
Al Green
is a southern soul singer from Forrest
City, Arkansas who
embodies the smoother and sweeter side of soul music which in the hands of the
likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Otis Redding was a far grittier genre. Green’s
songs tell tales of true love and extol the virtues of fidelity. His biggest
hit, “Let’s Stay Together,” is a primary example Green’s brand of sweet soul.
Green
would become one of the biggest soul stars of the Seventies with a steady
string of hits which included, “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Tired of Being
Alone,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “I’m Still in Love with You,” and “Call Me.”
Green’s hits were recorded for Hi Records in Memphis under the deft direction of producer
Willie Mitchell.
Leroy Carr and Scrapper
Blackwell comprised one of the most influential musical partnerships in the
history of the blues. Singer and pianist Carr teamed up with the brilliant
guitarist Blackwell Carr was born in Nashville,
Tennessee, in 1905. Blackwell was
born in Syracuse, South Carolina, in 1903. After both men had
worked for several years as accompanists for other performers, they formed a
duo in 1928 and made their first recordings for Vocalion records that year.
The duo’s first recording, “How
Long-How Long Blues,” was a smash hit and a million-seller that ushered in a
more polished urban sound for blues recordings. The money that the duo made
from the song allowed Scrapper Blackwell to quit his bootlegging activities,
but provided Leroy Carr with the means to exacerbate his already serious
alcoholism.
Carr and Blackwell recorded
several more classic sides between 1928 and 1935, including “Midnight Hour
Blues,” “Mean Mistreater Mama,” “Blues before Sunrise,” and the song that seemed to
foretell Carr’s early demise, “Six Cold Feet in the Ground.”
By 1935, Carr’s drinking
had resulted in kidney failure and entire recording sessions were scrapped as a
result. Carr died later that year of nephritis at the age of thirty.
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Them was perhaps the best of the British
blues-rock bands that emerged during the Sixties. The band covered much of the
same blues/R&B terrain as bands such as the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds,
yet they possessed the best white blues shouter of the era, Van Morrison.
Them was formed in Belfast, Ireland, in
1964, and the band quickly gained a reputation for its hard drinking and
brawling as well as music.
The band’s first album, “Here Comes the Night” (1965), was a brilliant debut which combined inspired covers of blues standards
and original material. The title track, “Here Comes the Night,” would become a
hit. “Mystic Eyes” and “Gloria” are also standout tracks. The band’s sophomore album,
“Them Again” (1966), continued in the same rave-up R&B vein with
outstanding covers of “Turn On Your Love Light,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “I
Got a Woman.”
Van Morrison left the group after Them
Again to pursue a solo career and the band continued without him. Despite the
loss of Morrison, Them produced two more solid albums featuring a new
psychedelic sound, “Now and Them” (1968) and “Time Out! Time in for Them”
(1968). Complete Them (1964-1967)
is a fine compilation of the band’s work
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From the
freezing cold prairie town of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the Guess Who burst
upon the music scene in the late Sixties. When original lead singer, Chad Allen,
left the band to return to school, his replacement, the teenaged Burton
Cummings, would spearhead the band to international fame.
Cummings
and the rest of the band, guitarist Randy Bachman, bassist Jim Kale; and
drummer Gary Peterson would soon score a big hit with “These Eyes.” That song
would be included in the album, “Wheatfield Soul” (1968), the first Guess Who
album to make an impact outside of Canada.
With
keyboardist and lead singer Cummings as front man, the Guess Who would record a
string of hit singles which included “Undun” and “Laughing” from “Canned Wheat”
(1969) and “American Woman” and “No Time” from the “American Woman” (1970)
album. The track, “American Woman,” would become the band’s one and only No. 1
hit.
Randy
Bachman, a Mormon, would leave the band during the height of its success, fed
up with the excessive lifestyles of his band mates. He was replaced by
guitarist Kurt Winter, and the Guess Who kept on churning out hits. The album,“Share The Land” (1970), saw the title track,
“Share the Land,” “Hand Me Down World,” and “Hang On to Your Life” all become
hits. Despite earning a reputation as a “singles” band, the Guess Who produced
solid and consistent albums throughout this period.
The Guess
Who would continue to tour and record until 1975, occasionally scoring hit
singles and releasing decent albums, the best of which is “Live at theParamount
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Sidney Bechet was a musical child prodigy born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1897. Bechet was so musically advanced as a child that he had already played with many of the top bands in New Orleans. Bechet was one of a few jazz musicians of his generation who could rival Louis Armstrong’s brilliance as a soloist.
In 1917, Bechet moved to Chicago. After a tour of Europe, Bechet returned to America with a new instrument, the soprano saxophone and he soon established himself as a master of the instrument. Bechet made his recording debut in 1923 with Clarence Williams. He appeared with Louis Armstrong on a classic session with the Clarence Williams Blue Five that produced superb sides such as “Cake Walkin’ Babies from Home.”
From 1925 to 1929, Bechet lived and played in Europe. While in Paris, Bechet became involved in a daylight gun fight with another musician that resulted in injuries to innocent bystanders. Bechet was imprisoned for a year as a result, and was deported upon release.
During the depression, Bechet supplemented his income by running a tailor shop with trumpeter Tommy Ladnier. Bechet and Ladnier subsequently recorded several outstanding sides of New Orleans jazz under the name, “New Orleans Feetwarmers.” In 1938, Bechet scored a big hit with his stirring rendition of the standard, “Summertime.”
Bechet returned to France in 1952 and continued to record hit jazz records. Bechet died in Paris, in 1959.
Bechet’s recordings can be found on a number of fine compilation albums, including the great two-volume, “Jazz Classics” (1950) and "Chronological Classics."
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Benny
Goodman and long-time rival, Artie Shaw, are the two greatest and best-known
white clarinetists in the history of jazz. Both men achieved huge commercial
and critical success during their respective careers. It was Goodman, however,
who would forever be identified with the title, “King of Swing,” for his role
in the invention of the most popular jazz subgenre during the height of the
music’s popularity.
Benny
Goodman was born in Chicago,
Illinois, in 1909. His parents
were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who struggled to provide for
their large family. Despite the family’s relative poverty, David Goodman
arranged for music lessons for three of his sons, including Benny, at a local Chicago synagogue. After
a year’s training, Benny Goodman, aged eleven, joined a boys’ club band and
received further musical training from the club’s director, and later from a
classically-trained clarinetist. With this solid foundation, Goodman would
launch a career that would span seven decades and would span musical genres
from early classic jazz to classical music.
Goodman’s
began his jazz career as a clarinetist in the Ben Pollack Orchestra at the age
of sixteen. He would make his first recording with the Pollack Orchestra in
1926. He would continue performing and recording with the Pollack Orchestra and
its various off-shoots until 1929. During this frenetic period, Goodman also
recorded with nationally- known bands of Ben Selvin, Red Nichols, and Ted
Lewis. He also recorded under his own name with trombonist Glenn Miller and
others as “Benny Goodman’s Boys.”
In the
early Thirties, John Hammond of Columbia records arranged for Goodman to record
in the company of other stellar jazz musicians in a jazz “all star” band. Other
members of the band included pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Kroupa, two
musicians that would form the core of the rhythm section of Goodman’s later orchestra.
In 1935, Goodman expressed interest in appearing on the nationwide radio dance
music show, “Let’s Dance.” At the advice of John Hammond, Goodman secured
“swinging” arrangements of songs from Fletcher Henderson, leader of one of New York’s best jazz
orchestras. These arrangements helped make Goodman a hit with the West Coast
audience that heard his performance.
On the
strength of the Let’s Dance performance and the rave reviews of Goodman’s
recordings of “King Porter Stop” and “Sometimes I’m Happy” with Fletcher
Henderson arrangements, a large and enthusiastic crowd of young fans were
waiting in Oakland, California when the band played a show there
in August of 1935. When the Goodman band began to play, the crowd went wild.
The same reaction greeted the band in Los
Angeles during the debut of a three week engagement at
the Palomar Ballroom in August, 1935. During the three-week engagement the “Jitterbug”
dance was born, and along with it, the “Swing Era.”
In the
wake of the tremendous success of the Goodman band in California, Fletcher Henderson disbanded his
great orchestra and become Goodman’s full-time arranger. With the addition of
Henderson and pianist Teddy Wilson, both African-Americans, Goodman’s band became
the first racially-integrated jazz band in America. Goodman would later add
another African-American, the great Charlie Christian, on guitar.
Goodman was
coined, “The King of Swing” in 1937, and was secured as such when his orchestra
became the first jazz band to play New
York’s Carnegie Hall, in 1938. The concert, which
included members of Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, was a true
test for jazz music as an art form. If the high-brow Carnegie Hall set could be
moved by jazz, the music would earn a much needed stamp of approval from the
music establishment. After an uninspired start, the Goodman Orchestra slowly
built momentum and climaxed with an epic version of “Sing, Sing, Sing”
featuring spectacular solos by Goodman and pianist, Jess Stacy.
In 1939,
John Hammond introduced the electric guitarist, Charlie Christian, to Goodman
as a prospective band member. Despite initial doubts, Goodman was greatly
impressed with Christian’s playing and included him in the Benny Goodman Sextet
for the next two years. The sextet recordings with Christian including “Rose
Room,” “Breakfast Feud,” and “Grand Slam” are some of the finest recordings in
jazz history.
Goodman
continued to have tremendous success as a big band leader until the mid-Forties
when swing music began to lose steam. Goodman flirted with be-bop music and
even formed a bebop band before finally denouncing the music. In 1949, at the
age of 40, Goodman turned his back on jazz to devote himself to the study of
classical music. Following a lengthy retirement from jazz, Goodman died of a
heart attack in 1986.
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Ali “Farka "Toure is
among only a handful of African folk musicians who have found an audience for their
music beyond the borders of the African continent. Toure’s involvement with
American guitarist and musicologist Ry Cooder in the Nineties brought him to
the attention of North American roots music listeners. Toure would eventually
become known as the “Bluesman of Africa”
Toure was born in Kanau, Mali,
in 1939. As a youth, Toure was introduced to African-American music, including
soul from the likes of Ray Charles and Otis Redding and the Delta blues. Toure
wrote music and performed for a group called Troupe 117 which was organized by
the Malian government following the country’s establishment of independence.
In 1968, Toure
appeared in a performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, his first such appearance outside of Africa. By the Seventies, Toure was performing on Radio Mali, and the Sonafric
label recruited him to recorded several albums during the decade.
In 1995, Toure recorded the brilliant “Talking Timbuktu” with Ry Cooder and
embarked on a world tour. For his next album, “Niafunke” (1999), Toure’s
producer needed to install remote recording equipment near Toure’s farm as the
performer refused to leave his rice fields unattended to make recordings.
During his career endeavours, Toure had always sought out the security and
familiarity of his hometown. In recognition of his unwavering loyalty, he was
elected mayor of Niafunké in 2004.
Toure passed away in
2006 at the age of sixty-six.
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Bessie Smith was known as the “Empress of
the Blues,” so it’s only fitting that her mentor and senior, Ma Rainey, should
be forever remembered as “The Mother of the Blues.” Ma Rainey was born Gertrude
Pridgett in Columbus, Georgia, in 1886. She acquired the
moniker, “Ma,” after she married William “Pa” Rainey in 1904.
Rainey began performing music when she was
12-years-old, and she and her husband eventually became members of the
legendary touring ensemble, F.S. Walcott’s Rabbit’s Foot Minstrels. From 1914,
the Raineys became known as “Rainey and Rainey, Assassins of the Blues.” Ma
Rainey eventually met Bessie Smith, and she acted as a mentor for the younger
singer.
Mamie Smith became the first African-American
woman to make a blues record in 1920, and the sensation that her recording,
“Crazy Blues,” stirred led to record companies searching out other African-American
blues singers. Paramount
discovered Rainey in1923, and enabled her to make her first recordings. She
went to Chicago
in late 1923 to make her first record “Bad Luck Blues,” Bo-Weevil Blues,” and
“Moonshine Blues.”
Rainey would record over 100 sides for Paramount over the next
five years. She was marketed as “Mother of the Blues” among other tags. In 1924,
she recorded with the young Louis Armstrong on “See See Rider Blues,” “Jelly
Bean Blues,” and “Countin’ the Blues.”
As the Thirties approached, Rainey’s brand
of Vaudeville blues was beginning to lose popularity, and Paramount failed to renew her recording
contract. Rainey died in Rome,
Georgia, in
1939, of a heart attack.
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Alberta Hunter was
one of the first female blues singers to record. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee,
in 1895, and made her first recordings, “Bring Back the Joys/ How Long, Sweet
Daddy, How Long,” in 1921, for the Black Swan label. By 1922, she had moved on to
the Paramount label and established herself as
one of the most prolific blues performers of the early Twenties.
Hunter continued to
perform and record late into her long life. She died in New York City in 1984 and the age of 89. Among
several compilation albums of Hunter’s music are “Complete Recorded Works”
(Volumes 1-4) (1996) and “Young Alberta Hunter: The 20’s and 30’s” (1996).
Albert King is one
of three blues singers/guitarists, Freddie, BB and Albert, with the surname,
“King.” Of the three, BB King is by far the most famous, but blues purists will
often point to Albert as the best of the trio. King was born in Indianola, Mississippi in
1923 and died in Memphis, Tennessee in 1993.
King made his first
recordings during the early Fifties for the Parrot label, but his career didn’t
get started in earnest until the early Sixties with singles for the King label.
King recorded for the legendary Chess Records, but may have produced his best work,
“Born under a Bad Sign” (1967) for the soul label, Stax.
Other fine albums by
King include, “The Big Blues” (1963), “Live Wire/Blues Power” (1968), “Years
Gone By” (1969) and “King of the Blues Guitar” (1969). King appears on the
superb compilation, “The Complete Stax/Volt Singles” series along with the rest
of the stellar Stax roster of blues and soul stars.
