The Blakey-Chambers duets

On Sunday, March 29, 1959, right between the two sessions that gave us Kind of Blue, the bassist on those, Paul Chambers (age: 23) and veteran drummer Art Blakey (age: 39) seemed to have got early to a recording session led by Sonny Clark.

According to Michael Cuscuna, who unearthed these tapes in the 1970s:

[...] another odd early find in the Blue Note vaults. I was systematically going through every reel of every unissued session. When I put on the first reel of an unissued March 29, 1959 Sonny Clark session, which was ultimately released as My Conception, there was not a piano note to be heard. The first two takes were spectacular performances of "I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" and "What Is This Thing Called Love" by what could be none other than Paul Chambers and Art Blakey. I never did find out why these came about (perhaps the rest of the band was late), but I’m glad they did.

Glad indeed. If Chambers and Blakey always maintained a very high standard in all their recordings, here, with nowhere to hide, they both give a masterclass in what a rhythm section should be. Without horns, Blakey can afford to be more subtle, which only makes him swing more, not less, as you can hear in "What Is This Thing Called Love?". In this less-is-more vein, Blakey's tour de force is actually, at least to my ears, the slower but still brisk Irving Berlin tune. His versatility with the drum set, or even something so simple-sounding like his playing behind Chambers's opening solo, is mesmerizing.

Available on Mosaic Select: Paul Chambers, and on Art Blakey's Drums Around the Corner

Brad Mehldau is 42 today

What is it with succesful jazz musicians that are so appealing for what Americans call "haters"? Whatever it is, Brad Mehldau has enjoyed some success, a lot of it in jazz terms, and some have enjoyed bad-mouthing him (and if the average jazz listener is really a white, middle-aged male, it's time to revise women's presumed superiority at bitching).

Today Mehldau is 42. Although this is sometimes forgotten in the English-speaking world, he recorded his first trio album in Barcelona for Fresh Sound New Talent in 1993, and two years later, at 25, he moved to Warner's (have things changed!) I discovered him in 1997, recommended by veteran producer and writer Ira Gitler, no less, at Jazzaldia, San Sebastián's Jazz Festival. Shortly afterwards I moved to London, and one of the first CDs I bought, in a street market was The Art of the Trio, Vol. 1. That was my last review for the local newspaper I used to write for back in Spain.

Music can be appreciated at several levels. For a music writer, there can be an understanding of the merits of a given piece, she or he can also like it as a fan, and in a few instances, it can reach deep inside of you and help keeping you sane. The piece above, "Elegy for William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg", has been a refuge through the years.

Thank you and happy birthday, Brad Mehldau.

The unforgettable Mr. Jones

Hank Jones's most famous gig

Today is Hank Jones's birthday. He was a wonderful pianist, elegance in person, whose career spanned over 60 years. Too mild for some, perhaps, but always honest to himself. He was also my first interview in English, back in 1996. He was patient, kind, and even thanked me for reminding him of the people he'd played with.

He passed away two years ago, but he's not forgotten.

These videos come from a 2004 master class, the first is an in-depth interview, the second has him playing. Also recommended is this article by Ethan Iverson.

The Very Thought of You.......01:43
Alone Together................06:41
Oh, Look at Me Now............11:15
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning..15:53
Six and Four..................21:07
Recorda-me....................26:12
Don't Blame Me................29:22
Polka Dots and Moonbeams......34:41
Bluesette.....................40:42
Monk's Mood...................44:31
Ain't Misbehavin'.............48:36

Barenboim & Bird on improvisation

Improvisation is the highest form of art for me, because when you see a score for the first time [... T]he first reaction is gut, instinct [...] We only get to this possible stage of making music [as art] - possible - the moment we have digested all that and we achieve a kind of conscious naivete which allows us to improvise it, which allows us to play it at that moment as if it is on the spur of the moment. [...] It's a very blessed state in the life of a human being.

Daniel Barenboim in his 2006 Reith Lecture,

London, May 6th, 2006

First you learn the instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that and just play.

Charlie Parker quoted by Artie Shaw in Gene Lees's book
Meet Me at Jim and Andy's

(Oxford University Press, 1988)

Jazz according to Branford Marsalis (and Blakey)

... one time [Ben Sidran] interviewed Art Blakey, and he said "if you had to describe jazz in one word, what would it be?" And Art said the same word three times. He said: "Intensity. Intensity. Intensity. Even on the ballads"... So, even if you have people who won't know what we're doing, they'll feel what we're doing.

From the video below, as seen on Doug Ramsey's Rifftides blog.

Branford Marsalis Quartet's new album, Four MFs Playin' Tunes, is out now.

Mixtapes and old friends

I come from a small town in Northern Spain, in the Basque Country. Although we had a good jazz festival nearby, in San Sebastián, music-wise there was not much going on. A neighbour ran the only bookshop in town, and I spent many idle hours at the best of two tiny record shops. This was a time before the internet, before mp3, before recordable CDs. Any music sharing was made through borrowing of actual records, or dubbing on cassettes.

The "complete" John Coltrane on Spotify

Today it's the 45th anniversary of John Coltrane's passing. To commemorate this extraordinary musician, over the last few weeks I've been compiling a playlist of his recordings, both as leader and sideman, in chronological order, as available on Spotify. It comprises more than 800 tracks, or four days of straight listening.