RIP Dave Brubeck

This clip is from the 1962 movie ALL NIGHT LONG, a modern retelling of "Othello" starringRichard Attenborough and Patrick McGoohan.  Brubeck , John Dankworth and Charles Mingus were among the group of jazz stars appearing as themselves. It's nice to see Dave play with a group other than Desmond , Morell and his usual sidemen.

Hey Girl-Kai Winding

Kai Chresten Winding was born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1922.. In 1934 his family immigrated to the United States. He graduated in 1940 from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, plus that same year he began his career as a professional trombonist with Shorty Allen's band. Subsequently, he played with Sonny Dunham and Alvino Rey until he entered the United States Coast Guard during World War II.

After the war, Winding joined Benny Goodman's band, and later moved on to Stan Kenton's orchestra. Winding participated in the first of the Birth of the Cool sessions in 1949, appearing on 4 of the 12 tracks (while J. J. Johnson appears on the other eight, having participated on the other two sessions). In 1954, at the urging of producer Ozzie Cadena, he joined forces with Johnson to produce a highly successful series of trombone duet recordings, which were initially on Savoy Records and then on the Columbia Records label. While at Columbia, Winding experimented with different instrumentation in brass ensembles: the 1956 album Jay & Kai + 6 features a trombone octet, as well as Winding and Johnson performing on the trombone-like valved horn called the trombonium. Winding also arranged and/or composed many of the tracks he and Johnson recorded. Unlike most players who absorbed the "bebop" style, Winding notably used more overtly trombonistic slide and mute effects from the earlier eras of jazz, as had another former Goodman trombonist Bill Harris (musician), sounds which Johnson studiously avoided.

During the 1960s, Kai had a long stint at Verve Records and under producer Creed Taylor made some of his most memorable jazz-pop albums. His best-known recording from this period is More, the theme from the movie Mondo Cane. Arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, "More" featured what is probably the first appearance of the French electronic music instrument the Ondioline on an American recording. Though Winding himself was credited with playing the Ondioline, guitarist Vinnie Bell, who worked on the session, has said he remembers distinctly that the French electronic-music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey was the actual player. He served as Musical Director for the Playboy Club, in mid-sixties New York, when rock was beginning to edge out jazz as the fashionable club music.

While at Verve, Kai further experimented with various ensembles, made solo albums, and even an album of country music with the Anita Kerr Singers. In the late 1960s, Kai followed Creed Taylor to his new recording label at A&M/CTI and made at least two more albums with Johnson.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kai recorded for a number of independent record labels. During this time, he continued to give clinics, play jazz concerts and even reunited with Johnson for a live concert in Japan. He was a member of the all-star jazz group Giants of Jazz in 1971-2. He also wrote instructional jazz trombone books that included transcribed solos.

Winding died of a brain tumor in New York City in 1983.

Cloudy Day- Karen Mok

Poor Butterfly-Spike Robinson

Spike Robinson was just about the last major tenor stylist who played in the Four Brothers' cool-toned style popularized by Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, and Al Cohn. The remarkable part is that Robinson seemed to emerge fully formed in 1981 when he was already past 50. Originally he started on alto when he was 12 and, after being in the military, in 1950 Robinson played with some of England's top bop musicians, recording with them. However, after he returned to the U.S., Robinson got a degree in engineering and had a day job in Colorado for the next 30 years, just gigging on a part-time basis in local clubs on tenor. When he began playing music full-time in 1981, Robinson initially created a bit of a sensation. Spike Robinson continued swinging (often sounding close to Stan Getz) and recorded many excellent sets for Discovery, Capri, Concord, and particularly Hep. He passed away in fall 2001 at his home in Writtle in southern England at the age of 71

Dilaudid-The Mountain Goats

Interesting song plus scenes from the circa 1980 TV series SAPPHIRE & STEEL . Lots of Joanna Lumley. Win on all  
counts.:)

City of Glass

Stan Kenton recorded Robert Graettinger's abstract orchestral work in 1951.

from wikipedia-

...producer Lee Gilllette and Stan Kenton were able to cajole a reluctant Capitol Records management into assembling a 1951 version of the 'Innovations Orchestra' to record. The group's studio time on December 5 and 7 was entirely devoted to Graettinger's music; primarily the four movement City of Glass suite  . This was the rewritten version from the original premirered and Civic Opera House in Chicago in 1947 (the reception of the premiere by public was quite indifferent).  
Bob Graettinger died an untimely dealth to lung cancer in 1957 at the age of 33; he lived a great deal of his personal life enigmatic and as a loner. "I've never had a technique to execute my ideas. I work from the idea, and have acquainted myself with the physical laws of sound. I use a different technique for each idea." He elaborates further, "The way I hear music is a series of constantly changing tensions. What I hear isn't individual melodies or harmonies, but something more like abstract shapes in motion."

Robert Graettinger

presented below is the complete CITY OF GLASS as on the 10" release.
(title says City of Glass 2)

Dave Jay and the Kon-Rads

1963, years before he changed his name t0 David Bowie

Thunderbirds are Go-The Shadows

Allegro from MacArthur Park-The Wrecking Crew

Atomic Bomb- Jack Sheldon

1962

'Round Midnight-Jack Sheldon

Jack Sheldon with the Mancini Orchestra

Intermission Riff-Stan Kenton

1946 original


composed by Ray Wetzel:

Ray Wetzel (September 22, 1924 – August 17, 1951) was an American jazz trumpeter. Critic Scott Yanow described him as "greatly admired by his fellow trumpeters". 

Wetzel played lead trumpet for Woody Herman from 1943 to 1945 and for Stan Kenton from 1945 to 1948. He recorded in 1947 with the Metronome All-Stars, Vido Musso, and Neal Hefti, and married bass player Bonnie Addleman in 1949. While with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra in 1949, he played trumpet alongside Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, and Rolf Ericson. He played with his wife in Tommy Dorsey's ensemble in 1950 and with Kenton again in 1951. While touring with Dorsey in 1951, he was killed in a car crash at the age of 27.  He never recorded as a leader.

1972 version

A little West Coast Jazz

my favorite Sheldon song

Wuthering Heights

Not is it the only novel of Emily Brontë, it's also a chilling song written by Kate Bush which appears on her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. It was also her first single. Classical singer Hayley Westenra covered it in 2003. 





Versions I'm NOT going to seek out!!:)
 British punk rock band China Drum also made a cover of the song in 1995. Josh Pyke has done a cover for No Man's Woman. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain have released a swing version of the song. The musical trio The Puppini Sisters have a close harmony version of the song on their debut album Betcha Bottom Dollar.

"Nature Boy" by eden ahbez, The first beatnik

"Nature Boy" is a song by eden ahbez, published in 1947. The song tells a fantasy of a "strange enchanted boy... who wandered very far" only to learn that "the greatest thing... was just to love and be loved in return". Nat King Cole's 1948 recording of the song was a major hit.

The first two measures of the song's melody parallel the melody of the second movement in Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887). It is unknown if ahbez was familiar with Dvořák's piece, or if he arrived at the same melodic idea independently.

The song is based on a 1940s Los Angeles-based group called "Nature Boys," a subculture of proto-hippies of which ahbez was a member.

RIP Billy Strange

Another Wrecking Crew member gone........





Great version of Morricone's iconic theme.

Portrait of a Count- Stan Kenton featuring Conte Condoli

Kenton's 1953 album " New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm" was not only Stan's return to a more accessible style, but also had work by some of the best of the new "California sound" that would continue on into the 60s on many pop/rock hits. I'm talking about Bill Homan, Gerry Muligan, Maynard Furguson, and the soloist on this song, Conte Candoli.

La Chanson d'Hélène-Romy Schneider & Michel Piccoli

Warning- Aynsley Dunbar

Today is Aynsley Dunbar's birthday (10 Jan 46).  He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, Michael Schenker, UFO, and Journey.
  He also wrote and recorded my favorite Black Sabbath song in 1967, 3 years before they did it.





Here's Geezer & Ozzie's version: