Tag Archives: jazz

Art Ford’s Jazz Party

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Monday morning, Art Ford introduces a great all-star band on his 1958 television program who play a Dixieland number, “I’ve Found a New Baby.”

The musicians are: Johnny Windhurst, trumpet; Tyree Glenn, trombone; Hank D’Amico, clarinet; Coleman Hawkins, tenor sax; Teddy Charles, vibraphone; Alec Templeton, piano; Mary Osborne, guitar; Doc Goldberg, acoustic double bass; Morey Feld, drums;

Thanks to YouTuber MisterStereo

Dorothy Flips Her Wig

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Monday morning, the unbelievable Dorothy Donegan who pounds the piano so hard she literally flips her wig. Art Tatum said of her that she was the only pianist who made him feel like he needed to practice more.

Thanks to YouTuber William Gray Harris

Let’s Fall In Love: Ella Fitzgerald

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The Great Ella with a terrific song by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Not to be confused with Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It, Lets Fall in Love.”

Accompanied by the Billy May Orchestra, from the Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book.

Thanks to YouTuber JazzBreakTV

Compared To What

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(Click on video to play)

Monday morning, this Gene McDaniels/Eddie Harris song seems more and more relevant every day. Here’s the great Nellie McKay from a performance just last month giving it her all.

Thanks to YouTuber Monks Jazz Club

Start of Something Big

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Monday Morning, Walden Robert Cassotto (that’s Bobby Darin to most of us) with the Steve Allen standard; and “Just in Time” from Bells are Ringing

Thanks to YouTuber The Ed Sullivan Show

Ain’t Misbehavin’: Joe Pass

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I like Joe Pass because he always has such taste. You know that he could do whatever he wants to do on the guitar, but he holds himself back just a bit, restrains himself from showing off too much.

When I was a teenager I worked on a play as a stage manager with a very good professional older cast who I looked up to. I remember one actor, Gene, who came off stage into the wings where I was, after playing a very emotional scene. He was still crying from the scene, and I was impressed by the real tears. I congratulated him on how powerful the scene was. But he shook his head, and said to me, no, he didn’t get it right; he didn’t want to cry at that point in the play, it didn’t serve the playwright. I never forgot that.

The Frim Fram Sauce

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Monday morning have breakfast with Nat King Cole calling out his order:

I don't want French-fried potatoes
Red ripe tomatoes
I'm never satisfied
I want the frim fram sauce with the Ausen fay
With chafafa on the side

I don't want porkchops and bacon
That won't awaken
My appetite inside
I want the frim fram sauce with the Ausen fay
With chafafa on the side

A fella really got to eat
And a fella should eat right
Five will get you ten
I'm gonna feed myself right tonight

I don't want fish cakes and rye bread
You heard what I said
Waiter, please serve mine fried
I want the frim fram sauce with the Ausen fay
With chafafa on the side

A fella really got to eat
And a fella should eat right
Five will get you ten
I'm gonna feed myself right tonight

I don't want fish cakes and rye bread
You heard what I said
Waiter, please serve mine fried
I want the frim fram sauce with the Ausen fay
With chafafa on the side

Thanks to YouTuber TheNewFormat

My Future Just Passed

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Sung by the exquisite Carmen McRae. The don’t-make-em-like-that-anymore music and lyrics are by Richard Whiting and George Marion Jr.

Richard Whiting was the father of singer Margaret Whiting and also the composer of “Hooray for Holywood” and “She’s Funny That Way.”

Thanks to WBAI’s Reggie Johnson for a great two hour radio special on Carmen McRae where I first heard these songs.

More at Carmen McRae – Topic

All The Things You Are: Scott Hamilton

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Monday morning, you wake up with that tune drifting in your head.

Scott Hamilton’s tenor sax about as smooth as they come.

Scott Hamilton – tenor saxophone
Brian Lemon – piano
Dave Green – bass
Allan Ganley – drums

Thanks to YouTuber yoichiro tani

Fine and Dandy: Anita O’Day

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Comedian Art Metrano died this month. You can see his most famous routine here. The name of the ultra-annoying show-biz tune Metrano hums incessantly in the background is actually a lovely song called “Fine and Dandy.” Anita O’Day shows just how fine and dandy the song can be.

Fun fact: The music for “Fine and Dandy” was written by Kay Swift, but the lyrics were written by Swift’s husband, James Paul Warburg, who was a banker and financial advisor to FDR, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations who wrote about nuclear disarmament issues. He wrote the lyrics to “Fine and Dandy” under the pseudonym of Paul James.

Further Fun Fact: Warburg divorced Swift because she had been having a long-term affair with George Gershwin.

Thanks to YouTuber Phillip Primrose

Fascinatin’ Rhythm: Eleanor Powell

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And let’s end the year with this amazing clip of Eleanor Powell tap dancing. What she does, just from a percussion point of view, is incredible. I recently interviewed tap dancer Rusty Frank, a tap dance historian and preservationist, and a tap dancer herself, who maintains that it was the tap dancers who moved popular music forward with their taps. The innovative percussive rhythm steps of the tap dancers were picked up by the drummers, pianists and guitar players of the bands who in turn shaped the new ideas in music. Watch and listen to what Eleanor Powell does with this George Gershwin song from Lady Be Good. It’s a long way from “Tea for Two.”

Thanks to YouTuber Ms2doggies

Nica’s Dream: Eddie Palmieri

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Monday morning, waking up in the middle of Nica’s Dream. It’s Horace Silver’s composition as arranged by Eddie Palmieri, featuring the awesome violin of Regina Carter.

Thanks to YouTuber 3-2 Music Publishing

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

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With the madness of the last week it’s nice to just relax and give oneself up to an artist who is totally in control of her talent.

Lady Gaga sings a jazz/pop version of the Rodgers and Hart standard that promises a lot and delivers a lot.

She sang this often on her 2015 tour, and if you look on YouTube, you can see that in every performance the vocal arrangement is different, she’s clothed in a different costume and wig, and yet every performance is right on the money. Really a rare talent.

Click on the image to listen.

Thanks to YouTuber Lucs Said