A Norman Granz Two-fer

In his characteristic short-crown fedora and sweater vest, Norman Granz is caught in rare repose by photographer and jazz writer Bill Gottlieb and his Speed Graphic. By the early '50s, when this photo was taken, Granz was the captain of jazz industry. Photo by William Gottlieb

I have two little EPs from the early days of the 45- and 33-rpm format and I was trying to come up with a way to post them here on Gems without forcing you, our esteemed visitor, to have to devote an entire CD to a paltry 15 minutes of music. Then an idea came to me – why not pair them under the unifying element of their producer, impresario Norman Granz? Works for me. Now you can download a more-efficient paltry 25 minutes of music.

But ... who was Norman Granz? Where to begin?

The originator of the "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert concept, Granz was a Los Angeles native who pioneered integrated jazz shows in the forties, owned numerous successful record companies, managed top jazz talents, marketed national and international tours, and made the careers of jazz stars like Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. A shrewd businessman in an industry rife with well-intentioned amateurs, Granz was to some a savior and prophet, to others a manipulative Machiavelli.

In the fifties, Norman would regularly buy spreads in multiple jazz publications touting his next JATP tour, or his star players' jazz poll victories, or his latest concept album ("The Jazz Scene" being the first in a series of high-priced "collector's items"). His name appended to a jazz concert usually guaranteed a capacity audience of hooting, whistling and "Go, man!"-screaming jazz maniacs. And he would frequently record the results and issue them in a never-ending series of albums (78 and 33 rpm) under the JATP rubric. With Norman, everybody made money.

The great Chicago jazz DJ, Dick Buckley, worked for a while for Granz in the mid-'50s. While he never really criticized his former boss on air, I heard Buckley more than once mention that Norman got rich while his stars wound up scuffling for nickels and dimes. I myself saw Norman as a commercializer, a guy more interested in making a buck than in making art. When Norman moved permanently to Switzerland in the early '60s, I remember thinking he probably wanted to be closer to his money.

All of which is beside the point. The guy did much to support the music and its artists, and these two EPs are evidence of the wonderful stuff that could be produced under his direction. I don't believe this music is currently available in digital form, though it was issued on several LPs back in the day.

Three of the four Basie tunes have the Count fronting a sextet featuring Joe Newman and Paul Quinichette. Quinichette is often dismissed as a Lester Young-wannabe, but to my ears he exhibits real individuality here. Lester never sounded like this. "Tippin'" is a big band performance with a nice solo from "Lockjaw" Davis, probably an Ernie Wilkins chart. This is Basie before the arrangers were brought in to make over the band, and they swing hard. That's the Redbank Kid with bassist Gene Ramey in the photo, by the way.

Bob Brookmeyer was a rising talent when this EP was issued. He'd been working with Stan Getz (another Granz property) at the time of this recording and had been in a number of top-level big bands including those of Woody Herman and Claude Thornhill. He's heard here with a West Coast rhythm section, playing perhaps a little too laid back by East Coast standards (these things mattered in the mid-'50s). Brookmeyer was unusual in that – unlike most trombonists of the day – he played a valve version of the horn. David Stone Martin thought otherwise – he shows Bob with a standard slide trombone on the cover. You can see Brookmeyer with the correct instrument in the picture.

As always, the files here were ripped directly from the originals with only a slight cleaning up of pops and clicks. Your choice as to whether the music gets filed under Basie or Brookmeyer. Or Granz, for that matter.

<       

The Count Basie Sextet, Clef EP 186
Count Basie, org, p; Joe Newman, tp; Paul Quinichette, ts; Freddy Green, g; Gene Ramey, b; Buddy Rich, d.
New York, NY; December 13, 1952

*Count Basie, p; Renauld Jones, Paul Campbell, Joe Newman, Wendell Culley, tp; Henry Coker, Benny Powell, tbn; Marshall Royal, as, cl; Ernie Wilkins, as, ts; Eddie Davis, Paul Quinichette, ts; Charlie Fowlkes, bar; Freddy Green, g; Jimmy Lewis, b; Gus Johnson, d.
New York, NY; July 22, 1952
 

1. She’s Funny That Way  4:10
2. Tippin’ on the QT*  2:59
3. Count’s Organ Blues  3:09
4. As Long As I Live  3:09

 

Bob Brookmeyer Plays Bob Brookmeyer, Clef EP 322

Brookmeyer, v tbn; Jimmy Rowles, p; Buddy Clark, b; Mel Lewis, d.
Los Angeles, CA; December 26, 1954

5. There Will Never Be Another You  4:23
6. Bulldog Blues  8:01

(Link fixed again!) Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/cz8rr9d3km9ifuz/Norman_Granz_2-fer.rar

Where Scratchy Sounds Abound

Every attic has some – those heavy, highly-breakable records that used to spin at break-neck speed on record players that allowed you to stack half-a-dozen of them so the music would never stop. Now you can hear 'em again at the nation's library. Photo by Gems of Jazz

Maybe you've already read about this, and maybe not. If you haven't, and you're an old record junkie like me, you're in for a treat.

The Library of Congress has recently debuted an online audio service called the "National Jukebox." More of a massive archive than a jukebox, the site has thousands of vintage recordings from the golden era of acoustic sound recording, from its earliest days up to the mid-1920s. All of them can be sampled and/or downloaded for free – a deal that can't be beat!

All the music comes from the Victor archives (the licensing agreement must equal Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce in complexity) and, while it doesn't include much of worth jazzwise (unless Paul Whiteman is your boy), there are lots of interesting gems. One such item is "Bluin' the Blues" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band – a tune the LOC lists under blues though we all know it more correctly belongs in jazz category. The ODJB, above, headed by trumpeter Nick LaRocca, made what has been described as the first real jazz recording for Victor in 1917 (that would be "Livery Stable Blues"). Though they've largely been dismissed by historians and critics as more of a novelty act than a real jazz band what with their propensity for "hee-haw" sound effects, LaRocca claimed right up until his death in the late '50s that they were in fact the originators of the music that we love. While that assertion rivals Jelly Roll Morton's in its extravagance, LaRocca's syncopaters could play and do deserve some credit. To wit:

Though I can't compete with the LOC's collection, I'm no slouch when it comes to obscure sides. So here's my own offering, a rareity I picked up last week when a friend tipped me off to an old house that was being renovated and had on its porch some boxes filled with vintage 78 rpm discs. The hand-lettered sign above them said "Free – please take!"and I did just that. One dusty record was "John Henry Blues" by the New Orleans Blue Nine, an unknown group that Brian Rust lists as "probably a Negro band." The tune was recorded in New York in April of 1921 for the obscure Radiex label. The composition is by W.C. Handy, and the guys in the band are clearly schooled musicians, playing their ensemble parts with precision. Whether any of them had ever seen the Big Easy is questionable, and there are no real solos, but the overall effect is one of the music making the transition from the ragtime brass band style to the more familiar jazz orchestra configuration. Trumpeter Bob Shoffner was rumored to have played with the NO Blue Nine on later dates. The sound is funky, but definitely authentic. Here 'tis:

Melba Liston and Her 'Bones

Melba Liston quietly became one of the first women to contribute to modern jazz not only as a credible soloist but also as a first rate composer and arranger. Here she waits to go on stage with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra at the Newport Jazz Feastival. Unknown photograper



This one's a real rarity.

Many great trombonists have come from Kansas City, but only one was a pioneer in post-bop jazz while defying gender stereotypes. Melba Liston was that one. 

Liston grew up in Los Angeles after her family moved there in 1937, studying trombone and music theory from age eleven. After high school she landed a gig with Gerald Wilson's group and then went on to join Dizzy Gillespie's bebopping big band in 1949. At a time when young female musicians were expected to be singers or, at best, pianists, Liston proved herself as a fine soloist on an instrument that, until then, was a man's horn.

Promoters tried to set Melba up with all-girl groups, but she resisted. Although she had written arrangements for Dizzy and had even worked in Count Basie's orchestra for a period, she became discouraged with music and took a job as a clerk for the L.A. Board of Education. It was only in 1956 when Gillespie, on a suggestion from his young arranger Quincy Jones, asked Liston to join his new big band that Melba returned to performing full time.

Liston moved to New York in 1957 and formed a long-time partnership with pianist Randy Weston, writing superb arrangements for many of his classic compositions – "Babe's Blues," "Little Niles" and "Hi-Fly" chief among them. Weston's masterwork, "Uhuru Africa," created in 1960 and released on Roulette, was a joint project with Liston and was one of the first jazz suites to explore the music of that continent. The Liston/Weston musical partnership lasted right up until Melba's death in 1999.

I can't remember where I came across this treasure, but I know I must have been elated to be able to hear Melba Liston featured as soloist and arranger on a project of her own. This MetroJazz album was her only release as a leader, and it was done about a year after she'd left L.A. for New York City. MetroJazz was a short-lived label distributed by MGM that had been organized by critic and song-plugger Leonard Feather. Because it was number thirteen in the label's total output of fifteen records, "Melba Liston and Her 'Bones" was only briefly available before it vanished forever from record bins.

Only to appear as a download here on "Gems of Jazz" some 53 years later, that is.

As always, the music in this posting was ripped from the original vinyl with no enhancement other than a mild cleaning up of minor clicks and pops.

Melba Liston, tbn, arr; Benny Green, Al Grey, Benny Powell, tbn; Kenny Burrell, g; Jamil Nasser, b; Charlie Persip, d. 
New York, NY; December 22, 1958

1. The Trolley Song
2. Blue Melba (Liston)
3. You Don't Say (Liston)

Melba Liston, Slide Hampton, tbn, arr; Jimmy Cleveland, Frank Rehak, tbn; Ray Bryant, p; George Tucker, b; Frankie Dunlop, d. 
New York, NY; December 24, 1958
MetroJazz E1013

4. Pow! (Feather)
5. Wonder Why
6. Christmas Eve (Hampton)
7. What's My Line Theme
8. Dark Before Dawn (Feather-Hampton)

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?3h6ukpjxxxhzms0

Cool, Cool, Really Cool!

From our more-than-you-care-to-know department: Ever see an old film with a glimpse of a jazz combo working out and wonder, "Who are those guys?" I have. So when I was perusing back issues of Downbeat magazine, I was delighted to come across the entry above. I'd picked up a VHS copy of "D.O.A." years ago from an al fresco vendor on Canal St. in Manhattan, and I'd always been intrigued by the frantic, honking quintet featured in the nightclub scene. The trumpet player looked familiar, but the rest of the men were mysteries. Teddy Buckner is the only player I know from the group, and I can only assume that the other gents were minor players from around the San Francisco area (where the movie was made). As you can see from the accompanying squib about the production, what you hear isn't what they played – jazz players of greater renown later overdubbed the music, probably in Los Angeles. Below is the scene in all its glory, one of first efforts by Hollywood to portary "real" jazz on the silver screen. Of course, Norman Granz did it far better a few years earlier with "Jammin' the Blues," but that was insider's poker. Be forewarned that the stereotyping with Fisherman and his crew is pretty extreme, but take comfort in the fact that it extends to all races involved.

Showbizz Dizz

The very popular – and controversial – Daz MacVoutorooney, about to embark on a history-altering career, gets the regal sendoff uptown by his pals from The Street. Charlie Parker, never much in the public eye in those days, was doing a rest-cure in Camarillo out west and couldn't make the session.

From Downbeat magazine, summer 1946; unknown photographer

  

Order Your Aladdin Hits!

The greatest of them all, touted in an ad for his first post-Army releases. The "D.B." in "D.B. Blues" refers to detention barracks, a term that pretty much sums up Prez's military experience. As Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman said on an AFRS Jubilee show in 1946, "Lester, it's great to see you out of khaki!"  Ad from August 1946 Downbeat magazine



Hazel Scott Swings the Classics

Hazel Scott at work – on the cover of a 1956 Decca LP. From the good old days when a sequined gown and plenty of decollette were necessary components for commercial success. Come to think of it, not much has changed. Unknown photograhper

Yet another in our piano series ...

Hazel Scott was one of a number of talented female jazz pianists who had successful solo careers beginning in the '40s – Hadda Brooks, Dorothy Donegan and Rose Murphy being a few of the others. For some reason, they all specialized in jazzing up classical pieces – Hazel especially. No doubt the routine had a novelty appeal and brought in the crowds, but it is odd that so many talented players, all women, resorted to that approach. I wonder what Liszt would have thought of one of his rhapsodies set to an eight-to-the-bar boogie beat?

Hazel Scott was perhaps best known late in life as Rep. Adam Clayton Powell's wife, but she deserves to be remembered for her talent as a pianist of exceptional skill. She began her professional career in 1940 when she created a stir at the opening of Barney Josephson's Cafe Society Uptown. She went on to appear in shows on Broadway, perform at Carnegie Hall and record for several prominent record labels. Born in Trinidad in 1921, Scott had been educated as a classical pianist at Julliard but soon after graduating found opportunities for black performers limited – the old story. So it was as a jazz artist that she found acceptance, taking inspiration from Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum. An extremely attractive woman with an excellent singing voice, she made a number of movies and was the first woman of color to have her own TV show (though it ran only a few months in 1950).

The two albums offered here have, to my knowledge, never been reissued in any form other than these original 78s. I can't remember where I found them – most likely at a yardsale or second-hand store somewhere. The music is pretty routine though quite accomplished – not nearly as bad as Mike Levin's contemporary review from Downbeat magazine would have you believe (upper left). Needless to say, I was delighted to come across them because Hazel Scott's music is extremely hard to find. They consist of a Signature album done in 1946 and a Decca set from 1940 (one of Hazel's first sessions). You'll note that the Signature group consists of nine sides rather than the usual eight – that's because the last two tunes (Scott originals) were grouped togther on a single side.

As always, the music in this posting was ripped from the original recordings. As the sources here are 78-rpm discs, surface noise has been cleaned up in additon to the usual mild cleaning up of minor clicks and pops. These records are nearly 70 years old, so be forewarned that the sound is not perfect.

Hazel Scott, piano

New York, NY; Spring 1946; Signature Album S-1

1. A Rainy Night in G (Scott)
2. How High the Moon
3. I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans
4. Valse in C-Sharp Minor (Chopin)
5. Noctourne in B-Flat Minor (Chopin)
6. Fantasie Impromptu (Chopin)
7. Sonata in C Minor (Scarlotti)
8. Tocatta (Scott)
9. Idyll (Scott)

Hazel Scott, p; J.C. Heard, d.
New York, NY; December 11, 1940; Decca Album 212

 

10. Prelude in C-Sharp Minor (Rachmaninoff)
11. Country Gardens (Grainger)
12. Hungarian Rhapsody (Liszt)
13. Valse in D-Flat Major (Minute Waltz) (Chopin)
14. Ritual Fire Dance (de Falla)
15. Two Part Invention (Bach)

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/skji6c3r66ebxg7/Hazel_Scott.rar