Dr. Billy Taylor and "The Subject is Jazz"

Dr. Billy Taylor (source)

Dr. Billy Taylor (1921-2010), whose centennial we celebrate today, debuted on record in March 1945, right when the Parker/Gillespie revolutions was exploding. He had become a professional musician earlier, with his ears attuned to what he called "pre-Bop" (what Don Byas, Budd Johnson, Charlie Christian or Clyde Hart played). 

His first professional gig was under Ben Webster at the Three Deuces in 1944. From then on, he played, literally, for everybody; in 1946 he toured Europe with Don Redman and stayed in Paris for a while. In 1951, he became house pianist at Birdland, and soon after he started his own trio.

That's just the beginning of his vast credentials as a player — he was a renowned player for all his long life, a foundation as solid as anyone's for his other musical endeavours. 

Bud Powell with the 'Birth of the Cool' nonet

Bud Powell at Birdland

One the many discoveries made by Peter Pullman in his definitive biography of Bud Powell is that the pianist sat in once with Miles Davis's short-lived Nonet, of "Birth of the Cool" fame. 

We know the regular pianist was John Lewis, who also contributed a number of arrangements ("Move", "Budo", "Why Do I Love You") and compositions ("Rouge", "S'il Vous Plaît") and is present in all the recordings except the first studio session, where he was replaced by Al Haig. 

According to Pullman, Powell's sitting in took place some time in 1950 at Birdland. In his book (pp. 138-139) he quotes extensively from budding pianist Sy Johnson, then just about 20 years old and living in Connecticut, for whom the trip to New York City to see and listen the Miles Davis Nonet (and the Lennie Tristano Sextet) must have been a special occasion, even though it wasn't remembered by any of the musicians Johnson spoke to years later.

80 years ago today: the Benny Goodman-Count Basie Octet

By the autumn of 1940, Benny Goodman had undergone his first back surgery and was already on the mend. He had put his orchestra on hold for the summer, with a few men on retainer, like electric guitar wonder Charlie Christian, who'd taken the opportunity to visit family and friends back in Oklahoma, his first chance since he'd hit the big time the previous summer.

While still a popular bandleader, Goodman had somewhat lost some of his spark after the departure of some key men in his big band, namely Harry James and Gene Krupa, and with his current band on hold, rumours were rife. A big one was a possible merger with Count Basie, himself having some problems with his booking agency. Besides mutual admiration and being signed to the same label, a common thread to both bands was producer John Hammond, who had championed both and in 1942 became Goodman's brother-in-law.

Benny Goodman and Charlie Christian sitting in with the Count Basie Orchestra,
Apollo Theatre, Harlem, October 24, 1940 (source)

Sean Levitt, guitar master (1955-2002)

2021-02-03 update: after a couple of comments below by John Lyon, author of Sean Levitt—Seven Transcriptions, which includes the most complete biographical sketch I have seen of Levitt. I have corrected some mistakes, and have only added his complete name and the dates and places of his birth and death. 

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While jazz lives are routinely thrown to the "tragic" bucket too easily, there are instances for which that label is fitting. Sean Levitt, an astounding jazz guitar player you may have never heard of, is one of those cases.

Sean Levitt in Salamanca, Spain, 1986 (Source)

Jamal v. Shearing (or let's hear it for Crosby & Fournier)

The piano is one instrument where comparisons between musicians are easier to make. There are no two identical pianos in the world, but the common mechanics, the inability to bend notes (Monk notwithstanding) and the generally untouched, acoustic sound are a better yardstick than any other instrument (the triangle, perhaps) to tell musicians apart—case in point: in 1958-1959, Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans were recorded  at the same studio, Columbia's "church" at 30th St.,  and it's likely that at some point they used the same piano, and yet they're easily identifiable.

Pianos at Columbia's 30th St. studio (source)

A few notes about Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

After all the work putting together a three-hour podcast for Club de Jazz to celebrate Charlie Parker-s centennial (in Spanish), these are few notes I've jotted down: 

Cecil Taylor dances to...

Passion for music is one facet common to both its practitioners and their audiences. If not passion, at least its overbearing presence in our daily lives. In jazz, with so many giant innovators and because its history has often been told as a relay race where the baton would be "influence", there has always been some interest in knowing what our idols listen(ed) to. We know that Miles Davis would listen to anything, including a lot of jazz —as shown in his various blindfold tests— or that Coleman Hawkins hardly listened to any other music than classical at home.

One of those giant innovators would be Cecil Taylor. Admittedly, not everyone's cup of tea, but I think we can agree that he was a monster pianist with an unassailable artistic and personal integrity.

Roaming around the internet, I have found these two photographs, taken by Deborah Feingold:

(Source)

(Source)

Taylor seems to be dancing—which he would do in his performances—in his music room, where besides the piano and a conga drum (under his right arm), there can be seen a lot of LPs, among which three covers can be made out.