UPDATE: Both Carl Woideck and René Michaelsen have sourced "The Blues" to Ellington in the 40s. It's briefly part of BLACK, BROWN, and BEIGE in "The Blues" and more obviously "Carnegie Blues." THANKS CATS. I will update post later tonight with further thoughts.
Joe Pass. In the late 70s I saw him do a solo concert in San Francisco at The Great American Music Hall. He came out and played a couple of numbers. Then there was a pause for tuning, which seemed to take a long time, while he just sat quietly. He said "Do you ever have one of those days when you'd rather not be at work?" and then continued the set.
Stanley Dance’s “The World of Swing” really opened up a lot of music for me. “The World of Duke Ellington” as well. Ethan’s article on Dance is excellent.
What an insightful and fascinating post. Those Pablo albums were rolling out just as I was getting into jazz as a teenager. I remember exactly what you say -- finding them a tad boring. I remember about a zillion solo Joe Pass records, and a bunch with him (?) and Ella Fitzgerald. I listened to one or two (wasn't there one called "Zoot plays Soprano"? -- I remember having that one) and then sort of stopped paying attention. At the time, the Fantasy (?) releases with Art Pepper and, to my ear, the best playing by Stanley Cowell, had caught my interest.
I was in my mid- to late 20s as those albums appeared and had a similar response. I knew the musicians were major players, but with some exceptions, those Pablo recordings didn’t draw me in. To my young ears they were boring! Sarah Vaughan made a few good records for Pablo. “How Long Has This Been Going On” and “Crazy and Mixed Up” come to mind. I do have “Take Love Easy” with Pass and Ella and enjoy it. But fittingly given Ethan’s article, my favorite Ella is “The Duke Ellington Songbook”. I wish all the Stanley Cowell recordings were available! Among others, I had an LP of “Waiting for the Moment” which had an acoustic side 1 and an electric, overdubbed side 2. I would love to hear that again. I remember loving his version of “Round Midnight” on side 1. And Art Pepper seemed to be making up for lost time. It didn’t hurt that he had Stanley Cowell and George Cables on those ‘comeback’ albums.
Art Pepper had such great taste in pianists... (By the way, Stanley Cowell's "Equipoise" can be bought digitally, finally. I waited for years for that one...)
UPDATE: Both Carl Woideck and René Michaelsen have sourced "The Blues" to Ellington in the 40s. It's briefly part of BLACK, BROWN, and BEIGE in "The Blues" and more obviously "Carnegie Blues." THANKS CATS. I will update post later tonight with further thoughts.
Joe Pass. In the late 70s I saw him do a solo concert in San Francisco at The Great American Music Hall. He came out and played a couple of numbers. Then there was a pause for tuning, which seemed to take a long time, while he just sat quietly. He said "Do you ever have one of those days when you'd rather not be at work?" and then continued the set.
OMG Dan! That is too funny
This is one of the top utterances I have ever heard on stage.
Stanley Dance’s “The World of Swing” really opened up a lot of music for me. “The World of Duke Ellington” as well. Ethan’s article on Dance is excellent.
Thanks so much!
What an insightful and fascinating post. Those Pablo albums were rolling out just as I was getting into jazz as a teenager. I remember exactly what you say -- finding them a tad boring. I remember about a zillion solo Joe Pass records, and a bunch with him (?) and Ella Fitzgerald. I listened to one or two (wasn't there one called "Zoot plays Soprano"? -- I remember having that one) and then sort of stopped paying attention. At the time, the Fantasy (?) releases with Art Pepper and, to my ear, the best playing by Stanley Cowell, had caught my interest.
I was in my mid- to late 20s as those albums appeared and had a similar response. I knew the musicians were major players, but with some exceptions, those Pablo recordings didn’t draw me in. To my young ears they were boring! Sarah Vaughan made a few good records for Pablo. “How Long Has This Been Going On” and “Crazy and Mixed Up” come to mind. I do have “Take Love Easy” with Pass and Ella and enjoy it. But fittingly given Ethan’s article, my favorite Ella is “The Duke Ellington Songbook”. I wish all the Stanley Cowell recordings were available! Among others, I had an LP of “Waiting for the Moment” which had an acoustic side 1 and an electric, overdubbed side 2. I would love to hear that again. I remember loving his version of “Round Midnight” on side 1. And Art Pepper seemed to be making up for lost time. It didn’t hurt that he had Stanley Cowell and George Cables on those ‘comeback’ albums.
Art Pepper had such great taste in pianists... (By the way, Stanley Cowell's "Equipoise" can be bought digitally, finally. I waited for years for that one...)
Galaxy, not Fantasy, I should have said. I think.