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All posts for the month February, 2014
Born this day in 1934 Willie grew up in Spanish Harlem with his father, a folk-guitarist from Puerto Rico, William Correa taught himself to play the bongos at age fourteen, going on to play with Machito and New York City’s Latin bands including Pérez Prado. Mary Lou Williams gave Correa the nickname ‘Bobo’ when they recorded together in 1951. Bobo studied with Mongo Santamaría, before playing with Tito Puente’s band for four years from when he was nineteen. He recorded with George Shearing in 1955 before working with Cal Tjader and Herbie Mann. In 1959 he worked again with Santamaría, on material including the album, Mongo (1959).
The first time he recorded For Verve was in 1959 as a member of the Bob Brookmeyer Septet; other sessions followed during the first half of the 1960s and he made some albums as a group leader before making his first album for Verve, Spanish Grease, in 1965. A year later he had a small hit on the Billboard chart with “Sunshine Superman”, and other singles like “Spanish Grease” and “Fried Neck Bones And Some Home Fries” attested to his originality. In 1968 he recorded the album Evil Ways, named for the song that Santana would record on their debut album Santana (1969).
Bobo played on countless sessions, recording with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley, Chico Hamilton and Sonny Stitt. Moving to Los Angeles in 1969, Bobo led jazz and Latin jazz combos, and in 1971 he appeared with Santana in the concert ‘Soul To Soul, Live from Ghana’. Just three months before his death from cancer, Bobo reunited with Santamaria for the first time in fifteen years at the 1983 Playboy Jazz Festival.
Bobo seemed to enjoy playing pop and R&B, just as much as he did jazz. His love for the timbales and congas made him a thoroughly entertaining performer, and while not blessed with the best of voices it did not stop him from singing too.
Milt Gabler began working in his father’s business, the rather grandly named Commodore Radio Corporation on 42nd Street in the 1920s. Gabler renamed the family store the ‘Commodore Music Shop’ and in 1933 began to license old jazz recordings from the major labels and reissue them. The store also became a magnet for the New York jazz crowd, whether fans or musicians. In 1937, Gabler opened a new shop on 52nd Street and around the same time began holding gigs in a club, Jimmy Ryan’s, which was almost next-door.
Commodore released records by artists as diverse as Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, and Willie “The Lion” Smith. In April 1939, Commodore recorded what is arguably the label’s most important release, Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit.’ The session was at World Broadcasting Studios and Frank Newton and his Café Society Orchestra backed Lady Day. The record company executives from Billie’s own label found the subject matter of the song so sensitive – the lynching of a young black man in the southern states – that they refused to release it and Gabler seized the moment.
When Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note Records arrived in New York City January 1936 and found an apartment in midtown Manhattan. Gravitating to Commodore Records, he became friendly with Gabler and his brother-in-law, Jack Crystal (the father of comedian Billy Crystal), who worked at the shop and helped run the gigs. Years later, Alfred Lion would recall the huge challenge Blue Note faced in establishing their business: “There was nothing in ’39. No {music trade] books where you could check out things. Nothing. You had to go by your wits.” Through his friendship with Milt Gabler, Lion persuaded Commodore Music Shop to sell Blue Note’s first record releases. H. Royer Smith on Walnut Street Philadelphia, trading since 1907 and one of America’s oldest record stores, also agreed to take them, as did David Dean Smith in New Haven, Connecticut.
Gabler later went on to work for Decca Records, where he recorded Bill Haley and the Comets and Louis Armstrong, and the Commodore record label ceased to be – Decca released their recordings. At the same time Alfred Lion made Blue Note one of the most important record labels in jazz. The Commodore shop closed in 1959.
The shop front was taken sometime in the 1940s. The interior is from 1947 and was taken by William Gottlieb, whose photographic collection can be viewed at the Library of Congress web site. Front left is Milt Gabler, front right, Jack Crystal.
It is Dexter Gordon’s birthday today and so what better way to celebrate than with a look back at a classic. Our Man In Paris was Gordon’s first recording after arriving in Europe in the late summer of 1962 and it was done at the CBS Studios in the French capital on 23 May 1963. The session began around 3.45pm in the afternoon and finished at 9pm that the evening. Joining Dexter Gordon are pianist Bud Powell who had moved to Paris in 1959 and drummer Kenny Clarke who was also living in the city by this time. The two of them had teamed up with bassist, Pierre Michelot, under the name The Three Bosses and often playing together; as a result this album has a real feeling of togetherness.
Our Man In Paris includes, ‘A Night In Tunisia’, one of Dexter’s greatest ever performances, made even more so by the fact that this was the first and only take. Every track offers different shades of the Gordon tenor saxophone. From the lyrical and sultry, ‘Stairway To The Stars’ through to the upbeat ‘Scrapple From The Apple.’ Bud Powell plays exceptionally well on ‘Willow Weep For Me’ adding a sense of newness to a tune that even by this time had been recorded many times. Given four stars at the time of its release by Billboard it has come to be recognised as one of the jewels of both Dexter Gordon’s and the tenor saxophone canon.
Now this is what we call a line up.
In the spring of 1961 the U.S. Government were instrumental in chasing the face of modern jazz. Guitarist Charlie Byrd was sent on a diplomatic tour of South America; the American government very much saw exporting culture as a positive political tool. In this case, however, it was more a case of what Byrd was about to import to America.
Upon his return Byrd met Stan Getz at the Showboat Lounge in Washington DC and later, at his home, played him some bossa nova records by João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The next step was to convince Creed Taylor who had taken over the running of Verve Records from Norman Granz after he sold out that making a Latin influenced record was a good idea.
In October 1961 Getz and Byrd did some initial jazz samba recordings that were unissued, before getting together with Charlie’s guitar and bass playing brother, Gene Byrd, Keter Betts on bass, drummer, Buddy Deppenschmidt and Bill Reinchenbach on percussion. Betts and Deppenschmidt had been to South America with Byrd so they were well versed in the sound and most importantly the rhythms of Brazil. They recorded together the day before Valentine’s Day 1962 in Pierce Hall at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC to take advantage of the excellent acoustics.
“It was Charlie Byrd’s idea and none of us expected it to be this big.” – Creed Taylor
Jazz Samba was released in April 1962 and in the middle of September it entered Billboard’s pop album chart and by March the following year it had made No.1. It stayed on the album charts for seventy weeks and made bossa nova the coolest music on earth. ‘Desafinado’ had also made No.15 on the singles chart so together these two records were not only the catalyst for a craze but also extremely lucrative for Verve. It’s interesting to note that Dizzy Gillespie, always a champion of Latin jazz played ‘Desafinado’ at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1961, possibly at the urging of his then pianist, Brazilian, Lalo Schifrin, but also because Dizzy had also toured Brazil in the summer of 1961 – Brazilian rhythms were in the air.
Even before Jazz Samba entered the charts Taylor put Getz with the Gary McFarland Orchestra to record Big Band Bossa Nova and Cal Tjader cut ‘Weeping Bossa Nova (Choro E Batuque)’. Before the year was out Ella recorded ‘Stardust Bossa Nova’ and on New Year’s Eve the album, Luiz Bonfa Plays And Sings Bossa Nova that features the guitarist with Brazilian pianist, Oscar Castro Neves was recorded. Big Band Bossa Nova made No.13 on the Billboard chart – Bossa Nova was big.
On 27 February 1963 Stan Getz recorded Jazz Samba Encore, but with none of the musicians from the original, this album featured Antonio Carlos Jobim on piano and guitar along with Luiz Bonfa; this was far less successful than the first album, which is often the way with a phenomena, but for many people it is a more satisfying album.
Some exciting news today… announcing Blue Note’s 75th Anniversary Vinyl Initiative! Blue Note are releasing 100 essential albums remastered on vinyl starting with 5 titles on March 25. Read more about it here: http://www.bluenote.com/news/blue-note-announces-75th-anniversary-vinyl-in
A rare photo of The Luis Russell Orchestra featuring Louis Armstrong at the Saratoga Club, New York City, 1930. Armstrong is front row third from right of course. second from right is Luis Russell,
On this day in 1965 Freddie was in Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliff, New Jersey finishing the recording of Blue Spirits that came out later in the year on long playing record. Among those with him that day was Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone and McCoy Tyner on piano. A week earlier Freddie had been in the same studio working on tracks for the record with different musicians including Joe Henderson on tenor sax.
This was just about Freddie’s last Blue Note session of the 1960s and is certainly one of his very best. Most would say that Ready For Freddie is his greatest Blue Note album, where would you rank this one?
In March 1944 Blue Note records had been releasing records for 5 years. Progress had been slow, they like all record labels were hampered by the strictures of war and unlike other record labels their only proper employee had been conscripted which slowed things down still further. But in late 1943 Alfred Lion had been released from the military on medical grounds and was back on the recording trail. Blue Note’s original office had closed when Lion was drafted and the company needed new premises. A place was secured at 767 Lexington Avenue, and, significantly, both Wolff and Lion decided to work there full-time.
Lion recorded boogie pianist James P. Johnson doing a number of sides on 4 March 1944 and sensing that things were heading the right way with the war effort he gambled and among the tunes he recorded was Victory Stride that became BN 32, a 12″ 78 rpm record when it was released in 1945. Johnson, who came from Harlem, had made his first piano rolls in 1916, later backed Bessie Smith, and also mentored the young Thomas Waller, who became known to the world as ‘Fats’.